Great Ones

Outstanding book. 11 years later (1988 publishing), it is still an entertaining and informative book that I often refer to during football season. I wish they'd publish an updated version. Many things have happened in 10 years - Elway's rise, Jim Kelly's 4 Superbowls, Brett Farve, Troy Aikman, Drew Bledsoe, Scott Brunell and Steve Young just to name a few. The book covers many interesting aspects - preponderence of star QBs from certain universities, aging not so gracefully, Steve Deberg's many trades, the QB class of 83, black QBs, "franchise" QBs that never materialized, etc. Highly recommend the book to any NFL fan. One of my favorite books on football.

There is possibly no position in sports more difficult than quarterback in pro football. While many positions require skill, playing quarterback needs this as well as courage, leadership, and intelligence. The basic nature of the position is abstract to human or animal nature; where the quarterback is asked to stand tall despite the fact there are larger, stronger men attempting to "kill" him, and he must look 30 yards downfield while stepping up towards these men coming at him. He cannot attack these men, he must accept the punishment, and go on to the next play. Add the fact where defenses now are fully deceptive, and based on fully attacking this one position; and it's not an easy chore. The creation of the forward pass in football led to the earliest passers such as Sammy Baugh, and to the modern passers of Marino, and Elway. (Book is 1988 print) There are insights on all the greats, along with beautiful picture on these players along with the many others that made some contribution to the position. I have seen no other book to date that can offer the pictures on such a broad number of players in football. Along with the pictures are insights by many of the top minds in and covering the game. Whether it be Bill Walsh, Sid Gillman, or other coaches, there is something for any fan of their favorite quarterback. From Johnny Unitas to Greg Cook, any player deemed to have some effect on the game is reviewed. This book is a pure delight to fans of football, and it's most significant player.