Good Football Reads

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Two very readable books that add great color to the game in the 1950's and 60's are;

WHEN THE GRASS WAS REAL by Bob Carroll

THE GOLDEN AGE OF PRO FOOTBALL by Mickey Herskowitz

[pclpads]

The last FB book I read was, "Off Guard," by Walt Sweeney. Walt was a local SD Charger icon in the old AFL days. He was pretty much physically destroyed by all the pills / shots so-called "team doctors" pushed at him and in him. Great read for insights on what it was like to be player back then, with Sir Sidney as head coach.

[jefferyepayne]

Has anybody read Chris Willis's new book on Walter Lingo and the Oorang Indians? I did a book review of it for the upcoming issue of Gridiron Greats Magazine. If you like early NFL stories, it's a really interesting one.

jeff

[revmoran]

An older book that lets the pioneers speak for themselves
The game that was;: The early days of pro football
by Myron Cope

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by revmoran

An older book that let's the pioneers speak for themselves
The game that was;: The early days of pro football
by Myron Cope

A classic, Mike! One of my all-time favorites.

jeff

[TanksAndSpartans]

I didn't read the new Oorang Indians book because based on Thorpe's bio - it seemed kind of a sad chapter. The players were past their prime and lost a lot. Probably didn't help Pete Calac's HOF chances any. I did read the Columbus Panhandles book and a few other good books by Willis who does an excellent job.

I wish someone would write a book about the Canton Bulldogs or Massillon Tigers, but I think the reality is other than newspapers, there aren't that many sources out there to really get the inside story. An Amazon review of the new Memphis Tigers book mentioned that and I still haven't picked that one up yet even though Memphis was a good independent around the time the Ironton Tanks were i.e. it aligned pretty well with my interests.

[revmoran]

Originally Posted by TanksAndSpartans

I wish someone would write a book about the Canton Bulldogs or Massillon Tigers,

This is a good read

https://web.archive.org/web/20120311.../09-An-320.pdf

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks Mike - that is a good one. It shows up in Pro Football's Rag Days too.

I only wish someone had interviewed Cusack's counterpart on the Massillon side.