Bob Zuppke was head football coach at the University of Illinois from 1912 to 1941, a period that saw two world wars, a major economic depression, and significant changes in higher education and the role of sports, as major intercollegiate competitions became primary public relations events for the most competitive universities. Often credited with several significant football innovations including the huddle, Zuppke won two national championships and won or tied for seven Big Ten conference titles. This biography of Zuppke is a study of his passion for football, his advocacy for its educational value and his ability to promote and market the game to the academic community and the general public. It places him in the context of multiple themes, including the development of interscholastic, intercollegiate and professional football; presidential support and public relations; sports psychology; stadium building and commercial sports; academic criticism; the fraternity system; boosters; and sports in a state-supported public university.

This first major biography of the gridiron great Red Grange reveals how a gifted athlete and a wily agent gave birth to professional football in America.

In the early days of professional football, coaches were little more than on-field captains who also ran practices—if there was time for practice. The emergence of post-graduate football and the coaching profession from 1920 to 1950 was crucial to the evolution of the game, and both developed and rose in stature over this critical period in the history of football. In Pioneer Coaches of the NFL: Shaping the Game in the Days of Leather Helmets and 60-Minute Men, John Maxymuk profiles some of the most innovative coaches from the early days of the NFL, including Guy Chamberlin, Curly Lambeau, George Halas, Potsy Clark, and Clark Shaughnessy. Along with biographical sketches and career details, the profiles examine the coaches’ strategic approaches, their impact on the history of the game, and the advancement of their roles both on and off the field. It was this group of coaches who initially devised the basic repertoire of plays and alignments, as well as passing routes, blocking schemes, shifts, and substitution patterns. These men morphed defensive alignments, introduced the four-man secondary, conceived zone and man-to-man coverage mixes, and concocted linebacker and safety blitzing. Pioneer Coaches of the NFL details how coaches from the first three decades of the NFL established many of the procedures, conventions, and strategies that modern football coaches still use today. These innovators presented those that followed them a rich palate with which to imagine and create an even greater game.

The Defining Line takes you through the story of Charles “Chuck” Bennis’s Greek immigrant heritage, his childhood in Lincoln, Illinois, and his rise to All-American football player at the University of Illinois. Amidst stories of his first fight, his first love, and difficult moments that truly defined him, you follow Chuck through his struggles and successes in his college football career (which led to a role in the movie The Big Game), and you see Chuck transform to a courageous and compassionate man through glimpses of the other defining period of his life — serving in World War II.

Benny Friedman, the son of working class immigrants in Cleveland's Jewish ghetto, arrived at the University of Michigan and transformed the game of football forever. At the time, in the 1920s, football was a dull, grinding running game, and the forward pass was a desperation measure. Benny would change all of that. In Ann Arbor, the rookie quarterback's passing abilities so eclipsed those of other players that legendary coach Fielding Yost came back from retirement to coach him. The other college teams had no answer for Friedman's passing attack. He then went pro -- an unpopular decision at a time when the NFL was the poor stepchild to college football -- and was equally sensational, eventually signing with the New York Giants for an unprecedented 10,000, bringing fans and attention to the fledgling NFL. Passing Game rediscovers this little-known sports hero and tells the story of Friedman's evolution from upstart to American celebrity, in a vivid narrative that will delight and enlighten football fans of all ages.

Chronicles the history of college football from its first games in 1901 through the major tournaments of the twenty-first century.