Synopses & Reviews
Rozelle chronicles the life and times of the architect of the modern National Football League, Pete Rozelle, who transformed football into arguably the most successful sports league in the world. While he was never considered a serious candidate for the job of NFL commissioner early on, the position ultimately catapulted Rozelle into the role through which he transformed the NFL and became a trailblazer for all sports in the second half of the twentieth century. When he became commissioner in 1960, the league had twelve teams playing to half-empty stadiums and was mired in an outdated business model. Rozelle introduced revenue and television profit sharing to guarantee the success of small-market teams and brought every NFL game to national television.
Rozelles monumental achievements include the introduction of the Super Bowl in the 60s followed by the NFLs most rapid expansion and the establishment of Monday Night Football. The 80s saw Rozelle presiding over drug scandals, labor struggles, and the leagues legal battles with team owners such as Oaklands Al Davis, who famously won a lawsuit to move his Raiders to Los Angeles.
Jerry Izenberg chronicles the iconic life of Rozelle, who revolutionized the culture of sports in America and is responsible for turning the NFL into the preeminent sports league in the world.
Review
and#8220;Capturing the inner life of an NFL player is challenging enough. Revealing the torment, hubris, and shame that marked Darryl Henleyand#8217;s downfall is a task that only the bravest reporter could undertake.and#8221;and#8212;Adam Schefter, NFL reporter for ESPN
Review
and#8220;[
Intercepted is] engrossing, heartbreaking, upliftingand#8212;and dynamic. A fantastic book.and#8221;and#8212;Jeff Pearlman, author of the
New York Times bestseller
Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter PaytonReview
and#8220;Intercepted is rivetingand#8212;the perfect pairing of saga and author. The twisted, tragic, stranger-than-fiction journey of Darryl Henley is sensational in the hands of Michael McKnight, a gifted storyteller who also happens to be one of Americaand#8217;s best investigative journalists.and#8221;and#8212;Austin Murphy, senior writer for Sports Illustrated and author of The Sweet Season
Review
and#8220;Gritty and intimate, Intercepted is a mind-blowing account of an NFL starand#8217;s fall from fame. McKnight is a first-rate reporter who masterfully tells a story that will leave readers unable to put the book down. The detail and the drama are breathtaking.and#8221;and#8212;Jeff Benedict, Sports Illustrated contributor and author of Poisoned
Review
and#8220;This tormented tale of hubris and corruption, loaded with seedy characters, reads like a legal thriller. But McKnightand#8217;s thorough examination of former Los Angeles Rams cornerback Darryl Henleyand#8217;s sordid fall from grace is a cautionary all-too-real story of sex, drugs, and murder. . . . Sports Illustrated writer McKnightand#8217;s meticulous research and attention to detail nearly indicts the U.S. justice system and its own glaring flaws.and#8221;and#8212;Publishers Weekly
Review
and#8220;In the end what proved the fatal flaw of a man who looked as if he should have succeeded in the NFL and beyond? William Kopeny, an attorney who helped Henleyand#8217;s defense team, offered McKnight this explanation: and#8216;Vanity and cool . . . Thatand#8217;s the only thing I can come up with. Vanity and cool.and#8217;and#8221;and#8212;Bill Littlefield, Boston Globe
Review
and#8220;A legal/mystery novel with a compelling tale of both justice and injustice of our legal system. There were definitely two sides to this story of Henley.and#8221;and#8212;
Gridiron Greats Book Reviewand#160;
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“[A] crime story page-turner.”—Library Journal Library Journal
Review
andquot;Fans who remember these players will thoroughly enjoy reliving the good times with the heroes of their youth, and younger fans will get a valuable sense of how today's game came to be.andquot;andmdash;Wes Lukowsky, Booklist
Review
and#8220;Original and far more interesting than fiction, these stories need no garnishment. Jackson Michael humbly asks, listens, and writes. His stated goal of delivering NFL history directly from the mouths of the men who made it is achieved with all the flair of a simple dive play that busts open for a forty-yard touchdown.and#8221;and#8212;Doug English, NFL All-Pro Defensive Tackle
Review
"Though the title of the book is simple—
Rozelle: A Biography—it is a monument, giving us an unforgettable, less-than-simple look at a life that brought us the birth of the Super Bowl and the rapid expansion of entertainment that revolutionized the culture of sports in America. . . . An outstanding read and not to be missed."
—Peter Finney,
Times-PicayuneReview
"Jerry Izenberg was an astute observer of the NFL’s extraordinary growth during the Pete Rozelle era. His coverage was down to earth, his sources were in the know, and he often challenged conventional wisdom. Now, with the benefit of research and reflection, Izenberg’s assessment of Rozelle and key League personalities is as hard-hitting as one might expect. . . . [Izenberg’s views are] briskly rendered, sometimes humorous, and never ambiguous."—Paul Tagliabue, former NFL Commissioner
Review
“I covered Pete Rozelle during the last six years of his reign, and sat for two extended interviews with him. But I was a piker in Rozelle-ology until I saw Jerry Izenbergs book. Read Rozelle: A Biography, and youll know not only why the NFL got gargantuan, but why Rozelle is the single biggest reason why it got so big.”—Peter King, senior writer for Sports Illustrated
Review
"Izenberg is from the old school, answering questions, questioning answers. It's good to read about Rozelle and the NFL's growing pains. It's even better because Izenberg did the reporting and the writing."—Stan Hochman, philly.com
Review
"All professional football fans will enjoy this well-reported biography of a seminal figure in NFL history."—John Maxymuk, Library Journal
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"[An] excellent biography."—Los Angeles Daily News
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"The book allows us to appreciate Rozelle's savvy. He always seemed to have something for everyone—you never went home hungry if you hung out with Pete."—Gerald Eskenazi, Wall Street Journal
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andquot;I recommend this book for any football library. Its significance is in the preservation of the early game of football through the players who actually played the game in their own words.andquot;andmdash;Bob Swick, Gridiron Greats
Review
and#8220;[A] crime story page-turner.and#8221;and#8212;Library Journal
Review
"Izenberg's Rozelle:A Biography is an outstanding read and not to be missed."—Peter Finney, Times-Picayune
Review
"Rozelle: A Biography offers an in-depth illustration of the Rozelle’s appearance in popular culture and is useful for an understanding of his popularity—and why we now consider the commissioner such an important role in North American sport."—Andrew D. Linden, Sport in American History
Review
“Read Rozelle: A Biography, and you’ll know not only why the NFL got gargantuan, but why Rozelle is the single biggest reason why it got so big.”—Peter King, senior writer for Sports Illustrated
Synopsis
Hailing from suburban Los Angeles, raised by supportive parents, and educated at a boys-only parochial school, Darryl Henley had it all. He earned a history degree from UCLA, became a first-team All American for the Bruins in 1988, and was a rising star as the starting cornerback for the LA Rams in the early nineties. How Henley, in the space of three short years, went from golden NFL role model to federal inmate is one of the most bizarre stories in the annals of sport-stars-turned-criminal.
The product of eight years of investigative research and over one hundred interviews, Intercepted takes us into Henleyand#8217;s fourth season in the NFL, when he met Rams cheerleader Tracy Donaho and bumped into a boyhood friend named Willie McGowan, a onetime youth-league standout who had since turned to drug trafficking. Henley, Donaho, and McGowan embark on a scheme to transport cocaine that lands Henley in federal prison, where he attempts to arrange a Mafia hit on the sentencing judge and Donaho, who had been the star witness against Henley at his trial. Detailing how one of the best and brightest of our professional athletes destroyed himself through temptation, arrogance, and anger at a justice system that he felt had failed him, Intercepted is also a cautionary tale about American culture, as disturbing as it is impossible to ignore.
Synopsis
The Game before the Money recounts the National Football Leagueand#8217;s story and the evolution of Americaand#8217;s most popular sport in the vivid words of men who built the NFL. This unprecedented look at football history from the playersand#8217; perspective combines the stories of icons such as Frank Gifford and Bart Starr with those of journeymen who shared the huddle with Johnny Unitas and rallied to halftime speeches from legendary coaches Vince Lombardi and George Halas. Featuring players from the 1930s through the 1970s, these personal accounts trace professional football in its journey from post-barnstorming days through the first two decades of the Super Bowl.
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The Game before the Money offers backstories to classic games and the men who made history in them before multi-million dollar contracts. Insights into life in the NFL come from those most capable of providing it, NFL legends themselves. Forty former players open windows onto their own lives, their triumphs and tragedies, and the hardship and the glory that make them the people they are both on and off the field.
About the Author
Jerry Izenberg is a sports columnist emeritus for the
Newark Star-Ledger and is the author of several books, including
Through My Eyes: A Sports Writers 58-Year Journey. He won the Red Smith Award from the Associated Press Sports Editors and was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 2000. David Stern is former commissioner of the National Basketball Association.