First published 1977
Chuck Bednarik sits in retirement, remembering a career that spanned football's golden age. Known as Philadelphia's "Mr Eagle," he was the last player to go both ways for entire NFL games, anchoring offense and defense with equal ferocity. The memories flood back: growing up in a steel-mill town where his father worked for 36 years, dominating as an All-American center in high school and college, then conquering professional football as an All-Pro. Bednarik won two NFL championships and earned Hall of Fame honors, but the violence defined him too. His devastating tackle nearly ended Frank Gifford's career, and countless fights marked his path through fourteen brutal seasons. The camaraderie of those bruising players sustained him through it all. Now he tells his story with the same directness he brought to the field, holding nothing back about the pain and glory that made him a legend among a vanishing breed of sixty-minute warriors.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, american, sports, football, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
Setting: Philadelphia
Period: 1950s, 1960s
210 pages · Hardcover · Prentice-Hall