No comments about Hearts of Champions.

1 comments about Always a Badger: The Pat Richter Story.

1. Always a Badger: the Pat Richter story
   
   Biographies of sports figures usually prove a disappointment, even to those who admire of these individuals. Some contain an element of autobiography, where the figure is named as an author together with a well-know sports writer; and for the most part these books are not good. [Exceptions occur when the athlete is articulate, and the writer is well-above average--an unlikely combination. Don Drysdale's (with Bob Verdi) Once a Bum, Always as Dodger is just that.]
   
   Vince Sweeney's Always as Badger: the Pat Richter Story (Trail Books, 2005) is a pleasant reminder that straightforward biographies need not be all bad. Minimally, Hugh V. "Pat" Richter, Jr. has had a two-part adult life: first, as an extraordinary athlete; second, as an imaginative business leader in both private and public sectors. Having known Pat since my teenage years, and watched his work from a distance, I submit that these two features are specially intertwined. One learns much from competitive athletics that serves one's posterity. Sweeney's book establishes this theorem.
   
   I shall not dwell on Richter's athletic skills. These are of the stuff of legends, and well-documented elsewhere. What I can say is that his All-American football years, and his special performance in baseball [to a lesser degree in basketball] at Wisconsin were marked by an uncommon grace. This important disposition seemed to have a significant impact on those with whom he played. Readers will get a sense of this grace in early chapters, and providentially, the notion that it will play a role in Richter's later life.
   
   Richter's post-Madison athletic career was played out with the Washington Redskins. While his NFL records did not approach the fame of his Wisconsin years, the times and personalities prove fascinating. Among the names are these: Otto Graham, Vince Lombardi, Edward Bennett Williams, and Joe DiMaggio. Richter as the leader of the NFL Players Association in the "lockout" of 1970 proves an interesting tale.
   
   Mindful of a need for longer-term employment, Richter had been working on a law degree from the University of Wisconsin in his off-season times. That degree was awarded in 1971. He joins the then privately-held meat packing firm of Oscar Mayer. The 1971-1989 period shows a steady progress for Pat in that firm. One cannot but think that his mentor, P. Goff Beach [Mayer's CEO], had much to do with this; but I know that Goff found Pat one of the best that he had ever attracted to the firm. The reader will find that Richter was a great "reader" of trends in business management, that he understood the long-term consequences of the sale of the Mayer firm, and its subsequent mergers into General Foods and then Kraft.
   
   We have, then, Richter residing in Madison in 1989. If things were not looking up at the Mayer division of Kraft, then southwest of his office, things were looking terrible in the Wisconsin Athletic Department. How bad? Well, large and expanding deficits linked to lousy football performance and over-extended programs; and, most-serious, the economic consequences of Title IX constraints.
   
   This terrible mess at Wisconsin was not unique, but it might have been larger. It would have been good for Sweeney to address this. I have some views on both topics: first, many schools were not sufficiently-led to understand the sea change; second, Wisconsin had many years of very poor leadership both from the top, and at the Director's position. In this time period I would mark up but one institution, the University of Michigan, for excellence in management of its athletic program, where the incomparable Don Canham read the tea leaves, balanced the budget, and produced regular championships in all sports. [The rules of the review provide that I cannot reveal further elements of the Richter-Canham story, but this is another reason to read the book.]
   
   Who would have taken the Wisconsin Athletic Director's position? Well, only a risk taker like Richter. And that is why this book needs reading. You will see the corporate skills [strategic management planning, asset management, and careful selection of human capital] rolled out in a not-for-profit, but large scale enterprise. People to be found, prices to be set, costs to be understood, facilities to be constructed: these are the themes of Richter's leadership. There are the constant tensions between the academic leadership of the University, and those of the state's political leaders. There are, frankly-reported some "hick-ups" along the way. The outcome, in retrospect, looks to be a perfect plan. If Richter had required a book that said that this severally-dimensioned success was his first vision, I might have fallen for it. That Sweeney has got the "fullness" of the starts and stops, is to be celebrated. Economists talk regularly about "learning by doing". In this case we have the chance to see that learning & the doing done pronto.
   
   I am not above offering some criticism of this book's construction. The index is lousy, something that should not happen in this day of electronic composition. A glaring case in point is Pat's wife, Renee, who fails to get named and page-linked. Further, this book needed a better proof-reader.
   
   Two sets of readers will get the most value from this book: those who appreciate the complexity of modern athletic program management, and those who anticipate participating in today's collegiate athletics. With luck, some for the latter will go on--like Pat Richter--to leadership in the arena that the former appreciate.

2 comments about Field of Valor: Duty, Honor, Country, and Winning the Heisman.

1. Oh come on! How can anybody pan a book without at least opening the cover? Field of Valor is an excellent look at the service academy football programs during their glory days. It might not belong in the library of every football fan but it is a nicely produced book with a great deal of interesting information and it deserves a look, especially with bargain priced used copies out there!



2. While I have not yet read the book, I wish to point out that Glenn Davis never reached the rank of brigadier general. As a matter of fact, he hardly reached the rank of first lieutenant. He was too interested in Hollywood and such environs. He wasn't even a good pro player. Neither was Joe Bellino.

5 comments about Rice.

1. JERRY RICE IS PROBABLY THE BEST WIDE RECEIVER OF ALL TIME. BUT THIS BOOK IS NOT. IT HAS SOME GREAT COLOR PHOTOS OF GAME ACTION AND OF JERRY AND HAS FAMILY. BUT THE REST OF IT LACKS ALOT. IF YOU LIKE VERY PLAIN AND UNDETAILED FACTS ABOUT JERRY THEN THIS IS FOR YOU. MOST OF THE BOOK IS PHOTOS, SOME STATS AND SOME VERY GENERIC FACTS ABOUT RICE AND HIS CAREER. TO ME IT IS NOT BAD BUT SOMEWHAT DISAPPOINTING.



2. This is a great Auto-Biography of Jerry Rice. The pictures are excellent, and the writing is also great.



3. I read the book and now i know more about how he plays the game of football.



4. This is a great book about one of the greatest athletes to ever play in the NFL. You really get to know Jerry and how he approaches the game that he loves. A must read for any die-hard Jerry Rice fans. I recently met Jerry in person and had him autograph his book for me. He's a great person and a tremendous athlete.



5. RICE IS INDEPTH BUT NOT ENOUGH. RIGHT WHEN YOU FEEL THAT YOU'RE REALLY GETTING TO KNOW THIS AMAZING ATHLETE, IT STOPS AND COMES UP SHORT. THE BOOK DOESN'T GO INDEPTH ENOUGH. BUT IT DOES GIVE A GLIMPSE OF A GREAT ATHLETE WITH A DRIVE NO ONE COULD EVER DOUBT. OVERALL, IF YOU WANT TO LEARN A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT "FLASH 80", READ THIS BOOK

1 comments about Ty Detmer: The Making of a Legend.

1. Ty Detmer had one of the greatest college careers ever! Dick Harmon is a great writer. He has written many books on BYU football and their quarterbacks. This book goes into depth on how Ty became a football player in the small town of Mission, Texas. Buy it, read it, and ENJOY!

No comments about Diary of a Super Bowl Season.

No comments about The Goal Gourmet: The Peter Kitchen Story.

1 comments about Huddle: Fathers, Sons and Football.

1. I really loved how the father in this story got behind his son, even when he picked a sport that the dad had little or no understanding of. I got that impression that, to the dad, it was not what sport his son was playing that was important, but instead it was the fact that it was his son playing that mattered.
   
   I am a high school football coach. My son is 6 months old. If he picks (heaven forbid) to not play football, I want to be able to see that the value is in whatever he does and that it should be important to me because it is important to him.
   This is a great book for all fathers to read-- especially if you think your son is going to be the best at (fill-in whatever sport or activity you want) instead of thinking that you are going to let him know that he is the best son you could have ever asked for, no matter what.
   
   This book helps to remind me of my most important job-- to be a supportive father.

No comments about I Remember Vince Lombardi: Personal Memories And Testimonies to Football's First Super Bowl Championship Coach as Told by the People and Players Who Knew Him (I Remember).

No comments about Rememberin' Life in the Trenches.