Invisible No More

A Historical Novel

Wilmeth Sidat-Singh is the greatest athlete you’ve never heard of. In addition to having a laser for an arm on the football field and electric moves on the basketball court, he was also a scholar, civil rights pioneer, patriot, and one other thing—forgotten.

In this historical novel based on Sidat-Singh’s life, sportswriter Breanna Shelton inadvertently comes upon the compelling life of a Syracuse University phenom who generations earlier had to hide his identity in order to play, then was forced to deal with the backlash amid the tension of race and sports in 1930s America. 

As an aspiring Black woman building her career in a profession that doesn't embrace her, Shelton finds a kindred spirit. She buries herself in research, committed to resurrecting an inspirational man whose name was long lost. In the process, she discovers courage and fortitude to transform herself and her goals.

Post–civil rights era society still wrestles with stiff obstacles that Sidat-Singh faced when he was “passing” to get on the field; flying as a Tuskegee Airman in World War II; and interacting with celebrities of his day, including Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Grantland Rice, Sam Lacy, and Joe Louis.

This fictionalized account, as timely now as ever, honors an American hero whose life ended too soon serving a country that didn’t see him as a full citizen because of the color of his skin. After you read this book, Sidat-Singh will be invisible no more.

$24.95
ISBN: 978-1-63755-863-8
SKU: 18-1176-01
Categories:Sports

“Imagine an athlete with the greatness of Patrick Mahomes and Steph Curry, whose backstory is comparable to Jackie Robinson, Warren Moon, Bo Jackson, and Pat Tillman. Now imagine all of it in one 25-year-old. The story of Wilmeth Sidat-Singh is both heroic and heartbreaking. The authors place a much-needed spotlight on a forgotten superstar athlete.” —Mike Tirico, NBC Sports

“We often hear athletes say they stand on the shoulders of their predecessors, but not until you truly understand their journey is it possible to fully understand the debt and gratitude we owe them for the legacy they left us. I am humbled to be a part of the lineage created by Wilmeth Sidat-Singh. His story transcends the game. He truly is an American hero.” —Don McPherson, author, educator, College Football Hall of Fame member

“Based on the true life of an extraordinary young man named Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, Invisible No More is a testament to the grace and grit of the human spirit. The novel follows Wilmeth from the brutal discrimination of the Jim Crow 1930s and 1940s to his ascension as a brilliant student-athlete at Syracuse University to his tragic death at the age of 25 in World War II. The thread that links the past to the present is a tough, irreverent Black female journalist named Breanna who unearths Wilmeth’s long-forgotten story and is changed forever. Readers will be too.” —Joan Ryan, award-winning journalist and author of Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry

“It takes persistence, courage, and style to move a hero out of the shadows so a new generation can appreciate such greatness. Thankfully, those elements have aligned here.” —Tim Wendel, award-winning journalist and author of Castro’s Curveball and Summer of ‘68

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