All the colors came out A father, a daughter, and a lifetime of lessons

At six feet, five inches, Chris Fagan was a formidable figure on the basketball court, whether in pickup games, at Colgate University, or playing professionally in Europe. The same could be said about his role as a devoted family man. In a follow-up to her coming-out memoir, The Reappearing Act (2014), and her best-selling What Made Maddy Run (2017), sports journalist Fagan, Chris' daughter, explores her father-daughter relationship after he was diagnosed with ALS. With the support of her wife, Kathryn, Kate stepped back from a consuming career to help care for her father until his death in 2019. This memoir explores guilt and grief, plus familial love fortified by a shared passion for sports and nurtured by worthy life lessons. As her mother notes in a beautifully written foreword, this is Kate's love letter to her dad. It also serves as a gentle reminder to "keep doing the things you love with the people you love." Sure to appeal to sports fans and LGBTQ readers navigating family relationships, as well as to families coping with ALS.

When her father receives a devastating medical diagnosis, Fagan (What Made Maddy Run) leaves her job as an ESPN reporter and returns home to help care for him as he navigates life with ALS. As she watches him face his own mortality, Fagan reflects on the once-strong bond they shared, worn thin by time and distance. Fagan's memories (seeing him in the stands as she played basketball, one-on-one games between them in the driveway, and following their beloved New York Knicks together) help her unfold the life lessons her father imparted over the years, knowingly or not. Ultimately, their shared love of basketball helps to restore the ties that had been lost between them. Also part of this deeply moving story are Fagan's experience as a gay woman, the challenge of parents' aging, and the enduring power of unconditional love. The author's singular talent for relating her internal struggles and growth shines in this exquisite tribute to her father and family, and to the game of basketball. VERDICT With strong appeal for book clubs, this heartbreaking, yet strongly inspirational memoir is very highly recommended for all public library collections, and deserving of a wide readership.--Janet Davis, Darien P.L., CT

A loving daughter recounts her father's last illness. Journalist, sports reporter, and memoirist Fagan, currently a feature writer for Sports Illustrated, pays homage to her beloved father, who died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2019. A basketball star at Colgate, Chris Fagan played professionally throughout Europe and shared his love of the sport with his eldest daughter, honing her natural talent. "I excelled in high school," writes the author, "accepted a scholarship to play at the University of Colorado, and played three years professionally. Basketball, and sports, became the beating heart of my life." But her commitment waned in college, which, she knew, disappointed her father. She was afraid her sexuality would also disappoint him. She came out as gay to her mother but couldn't face telling Chris. "Back then, when I played women's college basketball," she reflects, "I thought being gay was a failing." He did not, though, and warmly welcomed Kate's love--and soon to be wife--into the family. His diagnosis jarred Kate into reassessing her life, career choices, and also "the glass walls I'd built between me and the people I loved the most." Working at ESPN and living with her wife in Charleston, South Carolina, she felt enormous guilt at being far from her father when he most needed her. In December 2018, she left ESPN and for the next year traveled weekly to her family in upstate New York. In grueling detail, the author portrays the inexorable progress of her father's illness, the toll it took on his family, and his persistent denial of reality. "I thought he should be like Buddha," writes the author, "or Morrie Schwartz from Tuesdays With Morrie, or any number of stoic philosophers who embrace their final days with a pure heart, conviction in the world's oneness flowing from their lips. Yet, she admits, she discovered in the mysteries of his final moments "a steadfast belief in a higher power." A warmly appreciative memoir of sports and family. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.