Rugged and Enduring

About the Book

This book is a nonfiction account of some key years in the history of pro football. It starts on Dec. 7, 1941, and continues until the NFL championship game of 1960, but the focus of the book is on the five crucial seasons from 1946 to 1950. The central characters are the Philadelphia Eagles, the best team in the National Football League during that period, and the Cleveland Browns, the best team in the upstart All America Football Conference. In 1950, those two leagues merged, and those two wonderful teams faced off on opening day in what has been called the first Super Bowl. That game served as a climax to five years of growth and change for the sport, five years that set the stage for the NFL to become the nation´s most popular pro league. And those five seasons saw some terrific football. Each chapter focuses on two main elements --- what actually happened on the football field and what life was like for those who played the game. Whenever possible, the book relies on the voice of the players to tell the story. I talked to or corresponded with more than 50 players from the era, including such immortals as Steve Van Buren, Otto Graham, Chuck Bednarik, the late Lou Groza, Crazy Legs Hirsch, and Night Train Lane. The players talked to me at length about their love of the sport and their appreciation for their teammates, their coaches, and their foes. They talked about working second jobs to make ends meet and about seeing themselves on TV for the first time. They talked about jarring collisions on the field and serene team picnics in the park. They fondly remembered their triumphs and bitterly (sometimes quite bitterly) recalled their defeats. And they told me many funny stories. The book also makes use of contemporary news accounts and published histories. A bibliography is included, as is a final chapter composed entirely of some final thoughts from the former players who talked to me. There is also a helpful section with relevant statistics from the era.

About the Author

David Cohen edits sports news for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has also worked for such publications as The Record of Hackensack, N.J., and, in the online world, at The Nando Times. A graduate of Northwestern University, he resides in Haddonfield, N.J., with his wife, Rabbi Deborah Bodin Cohen, and their dog, Toewho.