Rozelle

By Jeff Davis

The definitive biography of the powerful commissioner who masterminded theSuper Bowl and changed professional sports forever

Pete Rozelle built a sports empire. He invented the Super Bowl, tripled the size of the NFL, and turned football into a billion-dollar business. Before he came along, Monday was just anotherweeknight. Rozelle was the archetype of the modern sports commissioner and one of Time magazine’s100 most important people of the 20th century.

In Rozelle, critically acclaimed biographer Jeff Davis goes deep into the extraordinary life of thislegendary figure. Showcasing exclusive interviews with more than a hundred of Rozelle’s familymembers, colleagues, admirers, and detractors, Davis weaves a compelling narrative fabric that masterfullyspans Rozelle’s life from childhood through his days as an executive with the L. A. Rams, to his triumphs as commissioner of the NFL and his everlasting impact on the American way of sport.

• Language: English
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
• Release date: Aug 20, 2007
• ISBN: 9780071593526

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Reviews for Rozelle

[big_bang_gorilla · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 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?