Jeff Davis (3) (1941–)

Although it must be said that sports fans will find this book interesting and well-crafted, it is no more a biography of football nabob Alvin "Pete" Rozelle than it is a soup spoon. It's not even a life-and-times; it's merely a history of the Rozelle years of the NFL, which has been done often, and sometimes better (cf. The League), with a couple of lead-in chapters describing his youth and another describing his last years to close the book out. The author is obviously well-connected; the show more book is grounded in personal interviews with any number of movers and shakers of the generation which is now fading from the pro football scene. The author tries a little too desperately to widen the book's scope; is it really necessary to an understanding of Rozelle's NFL to learn actor Ward Bond's death date or about sportswriter Frank Deford's grandfather's bank? show less

This is not only a very good biography of one of the founding fathers of the NFL, but also a great history of the game of professional football itself. A must read for any Chicago Bear fan, Davis does a nice job of covering the details of the earliest days of the NFL all the way thru to the modern era in the early 80's. I would recommend this to any football fan, even if you are from Green Bay.