Making Champion Men

By Billy Graham with Phil Gifford
Published by Hodder Moa in TPB on 1 September 2012 / RRP $34.99

Turning troubled boys into good young men.

Billy Graham says he would have been born on the wrong side of the tracks in Naenae ‘but my mates had already stolen them.’ Billy’s new book, written with Phil Gifford, will give parents and people organising youth groups, a practical, detailed blueprint to turn around the lives of boys struggling with life.

Based on lessons learned the hard way it will reveal the secrets behind one of the most remarkable success stories in New Zealand youth work, the Naenae Boxing Academy. A national boxing champion, and then a globally recognised motivational speaker, winning a standing ovation from an audience of 5000 people at the Million Dollar Roundtable convention in Atlanta, Billy came home to Naenae six years ago to set up the academy. Awards have flowed, local police say youth crime is down 30%, and a detailed Massey University study confirmed the academy’s amazing ability to help troubled boys become good young men. Minister of Youth Affairs Paula Bennett came for a brief visit, and left in tears of astonishment three hours later.

Billy’s new book will tell, with passion and humour, how to work the same miracles in your home or community.

About the Authors

Billy Graham won the ‘Local Hero’ section of the 2011 New Zealander of the Year awards.

Phil Gifford is an award-winning broadcaster and journalist. The author of 14 books, 10 of them biographies, he was the first person to be twice chosen as the New Zealand Sports Journalist of the Year.