Author: Larry Felser
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1599217627
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 265
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Book Description
The year 1966 marked the birth of the National Football League as we know it, when owners in the NFL and the upstart American Football League agreed to an unprecedented merger, to take place at the start of the 1970 season. They also agreed to play, beginning at the end of the ’66 season, a game between each league’s champion—a game that came to be called The Super Bowl. The Birth of the New NFLtells the story of that historic season, leading to the game between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. It also tells the off-the-field story, the one between warring owners and cities—a story often more brutal than the one on the field. Larry Felser has interviewed the leading men of the day, from Al Davis and Jack Kemp, to Wellington Mara, Art Modell, Lamar Hunt, Gene Upshaw, Dan Rooney, and many others. He presents the struggles of top teams for the chance to represent their respective leagues in the biggest game ever, while also offering a behind-closed-doors view of the wheeling and dealing it took to reach the agreement.
Author: Anne Tucker
Publisher: Museum of Fine Arts (Houston)
ISBN: 9780890901229
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
With more than 200 duotone images, this book captures the first season of the Houston Texans, from the NFL players' draft to the final game of the team's inaugural year.
Author: Chris Willis
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810885204
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 423
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Book Description
In Dutch Clark: The Life of an NFL Legend and the Birth of the Detroit Lions, Chris Willis tells the remarkable story of an athlete from a small town in Colorado who would become one of the NFL's greatest players. Throughout his seven-year NFL career (1931-1932, 1934-1938), quarterback Dutch Clark was selected first team NFL All-Pro six times, led the league in scoring three times, was team captain of the Detroit Lions, and helped the Lions win the 1935 NFL Championship in just their second season in Detroit. Supplemented with archival interviews, never-before-seen photos, newspaper quotes, and anecdotes, Dutch Clark tells the rags-to-riches story of one of the NFL's first stars.
Author: Chris Serb
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538124858
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 295
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Book Description
During World War I, American army camps, navy stations and marine barracks formed football's first true all-star teams, competing against each other and top colleges while raising millions of dollars for the war effort. More than fifty college football hall-of-famers, dozens of future generals, and two Medal of Honor winners would play for, coach, or promote military teams during the war, including Dwight Eisenhower, Walter Camp, and George Halas. In War Football: World War I and the Birth of the NFL, Chris Serb recounts a fascinating chapter of military and sports history. He details three of the best but long-forgotten seasons of American football, when college amateurs mixed with blue-collar pros on the field of play. These games showed investors a lucrative market for teams of post-collegiate stars and made players realize that their football careers didn’t have to end after college. Soon the barriers to professionalism began to fall, and within two years of the Armistice the National Football League was born. War Football explores for the first time this lost chapter of sports history and makes a direct connection between World War I and the founding of the NFL. Seven future Hall-of-Famers led the charge of more than 200 military veterans who played in, coached for, and shaped the character of the young league. Football fans, sports historians, and military historians alike will find this book a fascinating read.
Author: Joe Ziemba
Publisher: Triumph Books (IL)
ISBN:
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 440
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Book Description
A unique, entertaining look at the early days of football and one of its proudest franchises. When Football was Football captures an era in sports history and brings to life its personalities, rivalries, triumphs, and tragedies.
Author: Matthews Anderson
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Prepare to explore the fascinating history of the most popular sport in America, "The Birth of the NFL: From Leather Helmets to Super Bowls." Discover the arduous beginnings, spectacular victories, and revolutionary development of football culture in this engrossing voyage through the creation of the National Football League. This book takes you on an exciting journey through the highs and lows of the NFL's illustrious history, from the modest beginnings of leather helmets and dirt fields to the grandeur of the Super Bowl spectacle. See the first season of the professional football league begin in 1920, setting the stage for decades of gridiron greatness, and get to know the pioneers and visionaries who dared to dream of such a league. Discover the early struggles and victories as the NFL overcomes obstacles related to racial integration, weathers economic downturns, and handles wartime difficulties. Learn about the legendary players and teams-from Bill Belichick's New England Patriots to Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers-that helped to define the league's identity. But that's not where the story ends. The NFL faces both new opportunities and challenges as it moves into the modern era. The league needs to change to stay ahead of the curve in everything from labor disputes and player scandals to the development of technology and globalization. "The Birth of the NFL" provides an in-depth examination of the development of American football and is a must-read for both history buffs and football enthusiasts. Get your copy now and come celebrate with us as we honor the NFL's lasting legacy and its influence on sports, culture, and society. Are you prepared to set out on this amazing historical journey through football? Get your copy right away to avoid missing out on the excitement!
Author: Brad Schultz
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 161234965X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 276
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Book Description
For many football fans, the National Football League season of 1970 was a landmark year in the history of the game. The NFL and the American Football League finally began playing as a merged league--one that featured such legendary figures as George Blanda, Tom Dempsey, Vince Lombardi, George Allen, Sid Gillman, Lamar Hunt, and Al Davis. The NFL, Year One focuses on several key games throughout this thrilling initial season. One saw the Raiders and Browns play in Cleveland. This contest serves as the backdrop for the story of forty-three-year-old Oakland kicker Blanda, who went on that season to win or tie four consecutive games in the last seconds, becoming a hero to middle-aged American men. Among other notable games that Brad Schultz examines are the Browns-Jets game that marked the debut of Monday Night Football with commentators Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell, and "Dandy" Don Meredith; the Chiefs-Vikings game that served as a rematch for the Super Bowl IV competitors; and the Colts-Jets game that ultimately set the scene for the 1970 players' strike. Schultz also demonstrates how the season continues to influence the NFL today. Meticulously researched and thoroughly entertaining, The NFL, Year One is a riveting account of one of the most important and compelling seasons in NFL history. Any fan will surely enjoy Schultz's revisiting of the game's amazing 1970 season.
Author: Erin Grayson Sapp
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807179094
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 297
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Book Description
We remember the 1966 birth of the New Orleans Saints as a shady quid pro quo between the NFL commissioner and a Louisiana congressman. Moving the Chains is the untold story of the athlete protest that necessitated this backroom deal, as New Orleans scrambled to respond to a very public repudiation of the racist policies that governed the city. In the decade that preceded the 1965 athlete walkout, a reactionary backlash had swept through Louisiana, bringing with it a host of new segregation laws and enough social strong-arming to quash any complaints, even from suffering sports promoters. Nationwide protests had assailed the Tulane Green Wave, the Sugar Bowl, and the AFL’s preseason stop-offs, and only legal loopholes and a lot of luck kept football alive in the city. Still, live it did, and in January 1965, locals believed they were just a week away from landing their own pro franchise. All they had to do was pack Tulane Stadium for the city’s biggest audition yet, the AFL All-Star game. Ultimately, all fifty-eight Black and white teammates walked out of the game to protest the town’s lingering segregation practices and public abuse of Black players. Following that, love of the gridiron prompted and excused something out of sync with the city’s branding: change. In less than two years, the Big Easy made enough progress to pass a blitz inspection by Black and white NFL officials and receive the long-desired expansion team. The story of the athletes whose bravery led to change quickly fell by the wayside. Locals framed desegregation efforts as proof that the town had been progressive and tolerant all along. Furthermore, when a handshake between Pete Rozelle and Hale Boggs gave America its first Super Bowl and New Orleans its own club, the city proudly clung to that version of events, never admitting the cleanup even took place. As a result, Moving the Chains is the first book to reveal the ramifications of the All-Stars’ civil resistance and to detail the Saints’ true first win.
Author: Dave Revsine
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493012916
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 286
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Book Description
It’s America’s most popular sport, played by thousands, watched by millions, and generating billions in revenues every year. It’s also America’s most controversial sport, haunted by the specter of life-threatening injuries and plagued by scandal, even among its most venerable personalities and institutions. At the college level, we often tie football’s tales of corruption and greed to its current popularity and revenue potential, and we have vague notions of a halcyon time--before the new College Football Playoff, power conferences, and huge TV contracts. Perhaps we conjure images of young Ivy Leaguers playing a gentleman’s game, exemplifying the collegial in collegiate. What we don’t imagine is a game described in 1905, not today, as "a social obsession--this boy-killing, man-mutillating, education-prostituting, gladiatorial sport." In The Opening Kickoff, Dave Revsine tells the riveting story of the formative period of American football (1890-1915). It was a time that saw the game’s meteoric rise, fueled by overflow crowds, breathless newspaper coverage and newfound superstars—including one of the most thrilling and mysterious the sport has ever seen. But it was also a period racked by controversy in academics, recruiting, and physical brutality that, in combination, threatened football’s very existence. A vivid storyteller, Revsine brings it all to life in a captivating narrative.
Author: Richard C. Crepeau
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252052463
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 274
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Book Description
The new NFL Centennial Edition A multi-billion-dollar entertainment empire, the National Football League is a coast-to-coast obsession that borders on religion and dominates our sports-mad culture. But today's NFL also provides a stage for playing out important issues roiling American society. The updated and expanded edition of NFL Football observes the league's centennial by following the NFL into the twenty-first century, where off-the-field concerns compete with touchdowns and goal line stands for headlines. Richard Crepeau delves into the history of the league and breaks down the new era with an in-depth look at the controversies and dramas swirling around pro football today: Tensions between players and Commissioner Roger Goodell over collusion, drug policies, and revenue; The firestorm surrounding Colin Kaepernick and protests of police violence and inequality; Andrew Luck and others choosing early retirement over the threat to their long-term health; Paul Tagliabue's role in covering up information on concussions; The Super Bowl's evolution into a national holiday. Authoritative and up to the minute, NFL Football continues the epic American success story.
