Nitschke: The Ray Nitschke Story
Ray Nitschke was a rough and tough middle linebacker for the best team of the 1960s, the Green Bay Packers. Gruver, who wrote winningly on the Packers' glory years in The Ice Bowl, has done a nice job of blending familiar material about Nitschke with new interviews with Ray's teammates and contemporaries to create a compelling, coherent, and detailed portrait of a complex individual. Readers meet not only a Hall of Fame football player but also someone who underwent one of the most amazing life transformations imaginable, from an alcoholic, belligerent wild man to a sober, steady husband and father. Nitschke was a favorite for the way he played and for his habit of consistently making himself cheerfully available to fans. His entertaining autobiography, Mean on Sunday, was originally published in 1973, but this is the first biography of this legendary player. Recommended for all football collections. John Maxymuk, Rutgers Univ. Lib., Camden, NJCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.