Rinkside: A Family's Story of Courage & Inspiration

By Craig McCarty and McCarty Craig

How much should you encourage your child when he or she wants to become a professional athlete? Is it realistic to believe your son can really make it in the NHL? When Craig and Roberta McCarty were faced with that decision, they told Darren to always have a plan and they would stand behind him--whatever it took. What it took was a lot of family sacrifice but what it led to was a two-time Stanley Cup winning career with the Detroit Red Wings. What the family hadn't planned on was the individual struggles both father and son would have to face. After helplessly watching his son battle with alcoholism, Craig had to concern himself with his own health when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma terminal cancer. After years of disagreement, father and son put the past behind them and vowed to be there for each other through their difficulties. Rinkside is a truly inspirational story of a family struggling to beat the odds and their discovery that a family unit is not disposable, but truly one of the most valuable things in life.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1892049090
• ISBN13: 9781892049094
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: Triumph Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Who couldn't LOVE it?

i loved this book even though i've only been a fan for a year who really cares? i started to LOVE the Red Wings and my fave is McCarty. i liked him b/c if the other team was picking on one of his team mates he would do something about it. and he's just a really sweet guy! so i got more in to it when i got tickets for there practice and found out about this book. so my b-day was coming up so i got it and brought it w/ me to the practice. i didn't get it signed there but i had a friend who new him so i got it personaly aughtographed wich was more than i asked for in the first place. but he was happy to do it and i love that guy. the book was great b/c it incereged me to keep trying my best in hockey even though i can't sk8 werth [anything]!!lol. well i can bad @ explaning how things have helped me and stuff like that. so i'll just say it has really changed me for the better. ;)

Rinkside

My book was called RINKSIDE. I really liked it because it tells how Darren McCartys life was and how his dad Craig McCarty had cancer and how his son Darren made a McCarty Cancer Foundation. I would recommend this book to some body how likes hockey and how a family saves people from cancer.

GOD I LOVED IT!!!!!!!

Well as a die hard Darren McCarty fan, I thought that this book was very well written. Darren and his Dad have gone through so much in there lives and I thought that those two great guys need some major thanks. Not only has Darren proved that he is a good player and battling alcoholizm but he was his dad's strenght when he needed it, with his dad battling cancer, they held each other up..and Darren's Dad gets another thanks from me, for raising the best damn hockey player with the most potential, in the entire NHL>!

Excellent book for all hockey parents

I picked up this book hoping it would keep my attention. It has been several years since I have read an entire book. I was not disappointed. Not only did I read it from front to back in a day, then my husband read it, then my ten year old son. It is truly a book interesting for the whole family. Our family could relate to most of the experiences described in the book. The book shows what parents go through for their young children and how the children turn around and can make you so proud. The book does not "surgar coat" anything, he tells it like it is, good or bad.

Courage and determination is a major part of how we succeed.

When I had started reading this book, I never expected not to be able to put it down. When you think of celebrities (sports and entertainers), most people don't realize that they too have problems. This book made me realize that no one is invisible. Alcoholism and cancer can hit anybody. This told about how their family has dealt with these problems and continue to do so. It also tells of determination and courage. The determination Darren had to make it in the NHL, and Craig's courage to fight the cancer. I was a big fan of Darren McCarty before, but I never admired him. Now I do!