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No writing has been found as I went through this book! This book is a clean book! This book does have some signs of shelf wear and tear from use, but not much. This book does not include access code / supplemental material. This book is in pretty good shape! Ships Direct From Amazon! No writing has been found as I went through this book! This book is a clean book! This book does have some signs of shelf wear and tear from use, but not much. This book does not include access code / supplemental material. This book is in pretty good shape! Ships Direct From Amazon! See less
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The American Football League: A Year-by-Year History, 1960-1969 Paperback – September 15, 1997

by Ed Gruver (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 27 ratings
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Unable to buy into an existing team and rebuffed by National Football League owners who had no desire to expand, 27-year-old Lamar Hunt, the son of Texas billionaire H.L. Hunt, formed the American Football League in 1959. He placed his team in Dallas, called them the Texans, and invited other young entrepreneurs to join him. The seven men who did called themselves members of the "Foolish Club," but on September 9, 1960, the AFL made its regular season debut and went on to change the face of football forever.

Unlike the NFL, the American Football League featured wide open offenses and innovative coaching strategies, capturing a new generation of fans dedicated to the league and its players. The AFL aggressively pursued college stars--Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon in its inaugural season and Joe Namath in 1965. The eight teams signed a collective television agreement that split the money equally among the franchises, thus providing far more stability and balance than earlier start-up leagues. Based on interviews with owners, coaches, players, scouts, broadcasters and writers from the era, this is a colorful account of the AFL and its place in sports history.

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  1. Print length
    293 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    McFarland
  4. Publication date
    September 15, 1997
  5. Reading age
    18 years and up
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 0.59 x 9 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0786403993
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0786403998
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Highly recommend”―Mind’s Eye Press.

About the Author

Ed Gruver, former sportswriter for the Daily News, lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ McFarland (September 15, 1997)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 293 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0786403993
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0786403998
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.59 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 27 ratings

About the author

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Ed Gruver

Ed Gruver

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Ed Gruver is an award-winning sportswriter and journalist with more than 30 years' experience on the staffs of daily newspapers. A member of the Society for American Baseball Research and the Pro Football Researchers Association, he is a contributing writer to both SABR and the PFRA. Gruver covered the Philadelphia Phillies' glory years from 2007-11 and has also reported on the Baltimore Orioles, MLB All-Star Games, playoffs and World Series. He was an NFL writer covering the Baltimore Ravens from 1999-2008 and has written on the NFL playoffs, NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs and championship boxing. Gruver was a contributing writer to Total Football I and II and has written nationally for the NFL Alumni magazine as well as MLB and NHL online sites. A native of north Jersey, he resides in Lancaster, PA with his wife Michelle. They have two daughters, Patty and Katie.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
27 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Bobby K.
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for ALL football fans
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2010
Verified Purchase
I couldn't put this book down! A must for anyone who remembers the American Football League or you have any interest in the history of pro-football. Little know details are included about the signing of players, negotiation of tv contracts and the merger with the NFL. I also enjoyed reading about a number of games and actually could remember seeing the events as they happened as I listened to Curt Gowdy, Charlie Jones and Paul Christman describe the action!
Having been a fan of the AFL from it's inception and the refreshing type of football played in the league, I enjoyed hearing the names of the men and players who were the foundation of this league. I only wish the book contained more details. I highly recommend this book.
2 people found this helpful
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PrinceOfCups
5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive history of AFL.
Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2019
Verified Purchase
For those who did not live through the AFL; an excellent narrative.
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Bob B.
1.0 out of 5 stars Loaded with errors
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2020
Verified Purchase
I've read so many books on football history that I rate them by how much new I am able to learn. In the case of AFL Year-by-Year I learned very little. The book is loaded with errors, the most comical of which centers on Joe Namath's dislocation of his non-throwing ring finger during the 1968 AFL championship game. The author claims the Jets trainer taped the damaged digit to Joe's index finger. That must have been a real feat of medical dexterity for both QB and training staff. Me thinks the middle finger might have gotten in the way. Does anybody proof-read anymore?
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Robert Fujikawa
5.0 out of 5 stars AFL review
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2013
Verified Purchase
Could find stats on the internet, but couldn't get the stories behind the stats. Nice review of the entire existence of the AFL
3 people found this helpful
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maple's mom
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great AFL Book
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2010
Verified Purchase
Great stories about the AFL. A must if you are a fan of this football league.
3 people found this helpful
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S.B.
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific book!
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2021
This is a very enjoyable book about the league that shook up the game. The author has done a tremendous amount of exhaustive and accurate research. The book delves into all aspects of the AFL. The chapters on the early years are especially interesting. The author is a longtime sports writer who has written a number of sports books. The business of football was totally different when the AFL came into existence. This book details the beginnings of the league until it merged with the National Football League. It is required reading for any football or sports fan. I highly recommend this book.
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Thomas J. Burns
4.0 out of 5 stars Well Oiled
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2003
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Despite the myths, the true origin of the AFL---and of the new professional alignment of football in general, to use author Gruver's own data-was Texas, home of nouveau riche oil men like Sid Richardson, Clint Murchison, and H.L. Hunt. To understand the actual dynamics that led to both the AFL and the Dallas Cowboys, for that matter, one is well advised to read Caro's "Master of the Senate," in which Texas oil men in league with Senator Lyndon Johnson successfully manipulate pricing of oil and natural gas to amass unimaginable fortunes. Caro's description of Texas oil men-some of whom also funded Joe McCarthy's reign of terror-takes some of the awe and innocence from Gruver's account of the AFL's inception.
In 1959, when some of these oil men inquired after the NFL albatross Chicago Cardinals, venerable Bert Bell and the NFL did not wish to do business with them. Popular history [and Gruver] have it backwards: that the old conservative owners of the Redskins, Steelers, and Giants, among others, resented the modern upstarts, and only eventually accepted the idea of the Dallas Cowboys when absolutely forced to. In truth, any of the southwesterners were so conservative as to make Art Rooney look like Arlo Guthrie. The fact is that Bell, no fool, realized that the antitrust wolf was prowling around the NFL hen house, and recognition of franchises in Dallas and Minnesota was a small price to pay to make him go away. One can only imagine Bell's private disgust at being hoisted on his own petard, watching Texas oil interests, of all groups, threaten antitrust action.
The NFL expansion of 1961, modest as it was, left a string of frustrated suitors. In the long view of things, the fact that the late 1950's football entrepreneurs were fabulously rich established once and for all that whatever new league emerged would not be a dog-and-pony show. Prospective bidders for franchises would have to impress no less than the Hunt family with their solvency. With the notable exception of the Harry Wismer-New York Titans fiasco [later more than corrected by the Sonny Werblin consortium] the new AFL had more problems impressing critics than bankers. In its opening day clothes, the original AFL was a curious geographic imbalance, not surprisingly, tilted to the southwest. Boston and New York were courted for TV revenue, and those with long memories recalled that Buffalo had supported its 1940's pro team quite well.
But the banner teams-Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Denver-were two and three time zones west. From a television programming perspective, the new AFL mined a golden lode: a premier game in the Eastern Time Zone 4:00 P.M. slot where the NFL was generally signing off. Lamar Hunt, who for years had observed the ferocity of fan interest in Texas high school football, was able to convince ABC and then NBC, two networks eager to break CBS's stranglehold on pro football, that Americans would watch just about anybody play football if the time was right. It would be Nielsen ratings and popular opinion, not money, that would break or make the AFL.
Gruver's research of the business origins of the league is superficial. He relies on the popular misconceptions that have endured for over four decades, and adds little new by way of corporate analysis. Where he finds his comfort zone-not surprisingly for a professional sportswriter-is in his description of league play itself. There is a major implication here: the AFL, unlike other sports experiments, would not fold for lack of cash. Hunt, Hilton, Adams, Wilson, Werblin et. al. were not going to fold like cheap suitcases. If the league failed, it would be the brand of football on the field that brought it down.
Gruver's work is replete with descriptions of team characteristics, playing facilities, coaches and the like. Because of contractual problems-or the absence of major league sports in the new AFL cities-the playing conditions are a story unto themselves. Fully half of the home fields appear to have been either below sea level or had previous lives as toxic waste sites. In some cities the only available playing sites were literally salvaged from the wrecking ball: in New York the Polo Grounds, or the infamous "Rock Pile" in Buffalo. Interestingly, with the exception of a Sid Gillman, one is struck in the early days by an absence of great coaches [or somehow we have overlooked the genius of Frank Filchock and Buster Ramsey over the years.] By the end of the work, one is compelled to admit that the coach who most brought respectability to the league, love him or hate him, was Hank Stram, with Weeb Ewbank a close second. That Stram also appears to be one of the primary sources is not surprising,
The strength of this work is in Gruver's recognition that the players made the league. Those who are old enough to remember the AFL will be happy to relive memories with Gino Cappelletti, Wray Carlton, Mike Garrett, Don Maynard, Paul Lowe, Ernie Ladd, Billy Shaw, Lionel Taylor, Babe Parilli, Jim Otto, Jerry Mays, Charlie Hennigan, Buck Buchanan, Larry Grantham, Daryle Lamonica, and Keith Lincoln, to name some. Gruver follows a chronological sequence and monitors the division races throughout the text. The memorable games are recalled, often using text from the actual broadcast. Thus we get Merle Harmon's and Sam DeLuca's raw impressions of the infamous Heidi game-by radio, of course, due to NBC's never to be forgotten cutaway to Klara and Goat Peter.
Gruver has done well with this effort, probably about as far as a sportswriter could take it. I am of a mind that the two great sports developments of the post World War II era, the AFL and NASCAR, both deserve a masterful scholarly analysis. Gruver's work is a step in the right direction.
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