A Team for America: The Army-Navy Game That Rallied a Nation - Hardcover

Roberts, Randy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 054751106X ISBN 13: 9780547511061

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011

Synopsis

One of the greatest stories in American sports history: how the 1944 Army team beat Navy, captured a championship, and inspired a nation at war.

“There never has been a sports event, perhaps never an event of any kind, that received the attention of so many Americans in so many places around the world.” So wrote a reporter on December 2, 1944, about the greatest Army-Navy football game in the long history of that storied rivalry. World War II raged; President Roosevelt was seriously ill, only a few months away from death; and Americans on the home front suffered through shortages—including, just days before the game, a Thanksgiving without turkey or pie. But for one day, all that was forgotten.

Army’s team was ranked number 1, Navy’s number 2. Army’s years of football misery had been lifted by a wartime team and a brilliant coach who made them a contender. If they beat Navy, they would be national champions. For a few short hours the war seemed to stop, as U.S. soldiers around the world tuned in to a broadcast of the game and turned their thoughts toward home.

Randy Roberts has interviewed surviving players and coaches for nearly a decade to bring to life one of the most memorable stories in all of American sports. For three years, Army football upperclassmen had graduated and joined the fight, from Normandy beaches to Pacific atolls. For three hours, their alma mater gave them back one unforgettable performance.

About this title

From the Back Cover

[please set this to resemble an old telegram if possible:]

3 DECEMBER 1944
URGENT URGENT URGENT URGENT

TO LT COL EARL BLAIK
US MILITARY ACADEMY
WEST POINT NY

THE GREATEST OF ALL ARMY TEAMS STOP WE HAVE STOPPED THE WAR TO CELEBRATE YOUR MAGNIFICENT SUCCESS
MACARTHUR

Praise for A TEAM FOR AMERICA

This is a terrific book, a glorious look at a time when college football and particularly the annual Army-Navy game helped stitch the country together. Ken Burns

A rousing celebration of a moment in history when college football was more than metaphor and entertainment, it was a gritty sidebar to real war. Robert Lipsyte, author of An Accidental Sportswriter

Thoroughly researched, and containing many acute character analyses . . . Randy Roberts has taken me back in time as if the events had occurred only yesterday. John S. D. Eisenhower, West Point class of 1944

The story of Army s celebrated 1944 national championship team is a fascinating one . . . But Randy Roberts s A Team for America tells an even greater story. It is a story of our country. Of a time when college football and this remarkable Army team helped rekindle hope and confidence throughout the land. Brigadier General Peter M. Dawkins, U.S. Army (ret.), 1958 Heisman Trophy winner, West Point

From the Inside Flap

One of the greatest stories in American sports history: how the 1944 Army team beat Navy, captured a championship, and inspired a nation at war.

There never has been a sports event, perhaps never an event of any kind, that received the attention of so many Americans in so many places around the world. So wrote a reporter on December 2, 1944, about the greatest Army-Navy football game in the long history of that storied rivalry. World War II raged; President Roosevelt was seriously ill, only a few months away from death; and Americans on the home front suffered through shortages including, just days before the game, a Thanksgiving without turkey or pie. But for one day, all that was forgotten.

Army s team was ranked number 1, Navy s number 2. Army s years of football misery had been lifted by a wartime team and a brilliant coach who made them a contender. If they beat Navy, they would be national champions. For a few short hours the war seemed to stop, as U.S. soldiers around the world tuned in to a broadcast of the game and turned their thoughts toward home.

Randy Roberts has interviewed surviving players and coaches for nearly a decade to bring to life one of the most memorable stories in all of American sports. For three years, Army football upperclassmen had graduated and joined the fight, from Normandy beaches to Pacific atolls. For three hours, their alma mater gave them back one unforgettable performance.

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 054751106X
• ISBN 13: 9780547511061
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 268