Books & DVDs - Biographies

The Toe: The Lou Groza Story
by Lou Groza

Paperback edition

Lou “The Toe” Groza played for the Cleveland Browns longer than anyone (1946–1967), becoming a beloved football icon along the way. His autobiography vividly recalls a golden age of professional football that spans the sport’s most important formative years. Filled with great personal anecdotes about fellow Browns legends like Jim Brown, Paul Brown, and Otto Graham. Groza was a gentleman in a rough game; he tells his story with warmth and humor.



Still Kicking: My Dramatic Journey As the First Woman to Play Division One College Football
by Katie Hnida

Kindle edition

On August 30, 2003, Katie Hnida became the first woman ever to play and score in NCAA Division I football. The struggle to get to that groundbreaking moment took eight long years, a journey filled with dogged commitment, horrifying setbacks, and finally, remarkable triumph. Fate came knocking for the 14-year-old Hnida in the unlikely form of a torn thigh muscle -- an injury that would drive her off the soccer field in search of another outlet for her athletic talent. She found football and with it gender-defying success. The same day Hnida's high school classmates voted her homecoming queen, she donned her helmet and pads and kicked six extra points in the homecoming game.


Alive & Kicking
by Rolf Benirschke

Paperback edition

Drafted by the LA Raiders in 1977, the 334th player out of 335, Rolf was a twenty-two-year-old rookie from UC Davis - a Division II school. Soon traded to his home team, the San Diego Chargers, Rolf was in the unenviable position of being a rookie on the last-placed team in the NFL. That first season with the Chargers, Rolf broke the team record kicking twelve consecutive field goals.. September 1978, at a Monday Night Football cookout at the home of the Chargers' equipment manager, Rolf experienced his first pangs of the ulcerative colitis which would bring him near death.



Alive and Kicking: My Journey Through Football, Addiction and Life
by Chester Marcol with Gary D'Amato

Paperback edition

Chester Marcol was a Polish immigrant who spoke no English when he discovered football by accident in 1965 as a shy high school student in Imlay City, Michigan. By 1972, he was a household name in Wisconsin after being named National Football League rookie of the year with the Green Bay Packers. Known for his frizzy hair, thick glasses, and powerful right leg, he led the league in scoring in two of his first three years and was among the top place-kickers in the game. Marcol talks about the hurdles he overcame as a Polish immigrant to become an NFL star, provides a no-holds-barred look at his alcohol and substance abuse that cost him his football career and family, and for the first time publicly, he discusses his suicide attempt in 1986 that continues to affect his health to this day.



The Long Snapper: A Second Chance, a Super Bowl, a Lesson for Life
by Jeffrey Marx

Paperback & Kindle editions

Brian Kinchen was a thirty-eight-year-old father of four and seventh-grade Bible teacher whose professional football career had been over for three years when he received the call of a lifetime. The New England Patriots needed him to fill in for their injured long snapper for the remainder of the 2003 season and the playoffs. In the hands of Pulitzer Prize–winner Jeffrey Marx, Brian’s remarkable true story becomes a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit. For all lovers of the game of football, The Long Snapper reveals the grit and glory of America’s favorite sport.



Long Snapping: A Three Quarter Second Snapshot into the High School Life of a Rubio Long Snapper
by Jackson Wilder

Paperback edition

Students who are looking to get a picture of what it takes to be a specialist will enjoy the stories. Parents who are looking for a map will discover some road signs on a multifaceted journey. Long Snapping takes you from the beginning of the football experience, the specializations, the eventual contact, and training with Rubio, the long snapping coach.