BEDNARIK: Last of the Sixty-Minute Men

by Chuck & Jack McCallum Bednarik ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1977

Chuck Bednarik is just enough of a thick Slovak ox to conjure up dumb jock stereotypes, but he's also a football giant and much too decent a man to be patronized. It's fifteen years since his retirement from the Philadelphia Eagles and Bednarik is now a businessman, golfer, and public speaker who addresses groups like the Slovak Catholic Society. In narrating this convincing biography of a Working Class Hero who made good, McCallum can view him at home surrounded by the photos and trophies of his glory years without feeling sorry for him--a rare thing when you're dealing with an aging superstar. Bednarik's football talents--he was All-American for Penn and the #1 draft choice of the Eagles in the 1948 draft--were the only thing that saved him from fulfilling his destiny in the Bethlehem steel mills, like his father before him. On the field he played linebacker and center--one of the very few players who did double duty at offense and defense, an indestructible ""sixty-minute man."" Bednarik, whom McCallum calls one of the great ""primitives"" like Ruth or Didrikson, was never a glamorous figure and McCallum's bio glitters about as much as the concrete Bednarik now sells. But like the salesman and his product, this should be durable for the long haul.

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Prentice-Hall

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1977

Categories: NONFICTION