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Book Review: ‘Resurrection’ by Jim Dent
Published: August 31, 2009
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Inept coaching. An administration de-emphasizing football. Highly-touted recruits who didn’t produce on the field. The team’s best talent rotting on the bench. Dwindling fan support.
What has been true of the past decade of Irish football was true in the 1950s and early 60s, as Notre Dame followed Frank Leahy’s tenure with a series of under qualified coaches and dismal records.
That is, until 1964, when the administration broke its tradition of hiring alumni of Irish descent and signed an Armenian Presbyterian to be there new head coach. If he could succeed and run a clean program at Northwestern, there’s no reason why Ara Parseghian couldn’t do it at Notre Dame.
Resurrection: The Miracle Season That Saved Notre Dame follows Parseghian and some of that rotting talent as they put together one of the most memorable years in Notre Dame’s long history.
Resurrection follows the miracle theme by highlighting, among others, Tony Carey, All-American Nick Rassas, NFL legend Jack Snow, and Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte, all of whom rarely saw the field before Parseghian took over. Jim Dent, author of The Junction Boys, does a fantastic job of intertwining the players’ and coaches’ stories with the events of the day, like the mourning of JFK and the advent of the British Invasion.
If you’re a fan of the Era of Ara like we are, there’s no reason not to love this book (especially thanks to a cameo appearance by Coach Yonto that’s sure to elicit a smile from those who knew him). In building a chronological library of Notre Dame football history, Resurrection picks up where Shake Down the Thunder and Leahy’s Lads left off.
Resurrection is due out September 1 from St. Martin’s Press and Thomas Dunne Books. Thanks to both for the advance copy.
Book Review: ‘Rough & Tumble’ by Mark Bavaro
Published: August 31, 2009
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A true football novel can only be written by someone who played the game. Mark Bavaro makes that clear from the first chapter of his debut novel, Rough & Tumble. It’s one thing to say a tight end ran a five-yard hitch to make a catch, it’s quite another to spend two pages describing every little juke, maneuver, and evasion technique it took to slip past the defense to get in place to make the catch.
But Rough & Tumble isn’t a dry, drawn-out story about play on the field. It’s a fast, enthralling look at the full life of a football player—from the morning routine on the trainer’s table, to the boredom of team meetings, to the cheap shots suffered on even the most basic of plays.
Bavaro’s alter-ego Dom Fucillo must deal with a cast of characters that surely are already familiar to Giants fans—a hard-nosed head coach, a star linebacker who parties too hard, and an injured quarterback whose main concern is a future in broadcasting.
But those aren’t Fucillo’s only demons, as he also must deal with an estranged girlfriend, a faith that has become more superstition than religion, and injuries that could end his career at any moment.
If Bavaro deserves any criticism for Rough & Tumble, it’s from his fine literary skills outshining the supposed lack of intelligence of his first-person narrator, Fucillo. Still, all of that is quickly lost in an entertaining and exciting story.
The paperback version of Rough & Tumble is available September 1 from St. Martin’s Press and Thomas Dunne Books. Thank you to St. Martin’s and Thomas Dunne for an advance copy.
