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    On Any Given Sunday: A Life of Bert Bell

    On Any Given Sunday: A Life of Bert Bell

    by Robert Lyons


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      ISBN-13: 9781592137336
    • Publisher: Temple University Press
    • Publication date: 11/17/2009
    • Sold by: Barnes & Noble
    • Format: eBook
    • Pages: 352
    • File size: 1 MB

    For more than 35 years, Robert S. Lyons has covered professional and college sports for the Associated Press and has contributed articles to numerous national publications. He is the author of Palestra Pandemonium: A History of the Big Five, and co-author (with Ray Didinger) of The Eagles Encyclopedia (both Temple). He is the former director of the La Salle University News Bureau, editor of the university's alumni magazine, and an instructor in the school's Communications Department.

    Table of Contents

    Foreword by Don Shula
    Acknowledgments
    Prologue
    1. The Early Years
    2. The Quarterback of the Quakers
    3. A War Hero Tastes the French Nightlife
    4. Back to Penn as Captain of the Quakers
    5. Bert Bell’s Coaching Career Begins
    6. The Roaring Twenties— Off the Field
    7. Frances Upton: One of America’s Brightest Stars
    8. The Yellow Jackets Become the Eagles
    9. The Eagles Struggle under Bell and Wray
    10. The Player Draft Comes in 1936
    11. Additional Shock Waves from 1936
    12. The Struggle to Survive: 1937 to 1939
    13. Bert Bell and Art Rooney Get Together
    14. Bert Bell Ends Up in Pittsburgh
    15. Bracing for World War II
    16. The Steagles
    17. The Card- Pitts
    18. The New Commissioner
    19. Mysterious Negotiations with the AAFC
    20. A Gambling Scandal Nipped in the Bud
    21. Blizzards, Gamblers, and a Rebellious Club Owner
    22. A Dispute with Walter Annenberg and a Truce with the AAFC
    23. Buffalo, Dominoes, and Television
    24. Finally a Home of Their Own
    25. The Dream Game Turns into a Shocker
    26. Problems with the Federal Government
    27. “Listen, Sonny, Just Sign the Contract!”
    28. Baltimore Rises from the Ashes
    29. More Warfare and the Sermon on the Mount
    30. Flare-Ups, Pile-Ups, and a Move to Oust the Commissioner
    31. The Commissioner’s Working Style
    32. At Home in Narberth
    33. The NFL Welcomes Bubble Gum Cards and CBS-TV
    34. “You Can’t Quit Now, Pete Rozelle!”
    35. The Players Finally Get a Unionr
    36. The “Hands- On” Commissioner
    37. “On Any Given Sunday . . .”
    38. “Sudden Death” Finally Arrives
    39. Anxiety over the AFC, the Pension Plan, and the Pro Bowl
    40. A Poetic Ending at Franklin Field
    Epilogue
    Sources
    Index

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    Bert Bell, a native of Philadelphia, has been called the most powerful executive figure in the history of professional football. He was responsible for helping to transform the game from a circus sideshow into what has become the most popular spectator sport in America. In On Any Given Sunday, the first biography of this important sports figure, historian Robert Lyons recounts the remarkable story of how de Benneville “Bert” Bell rejected the gentility of a high society lifestyle in favor of the tougher gridiron, and rose to become the founder of the Philadelphia Eagles and Commissioner of the National Football League.

    Bell, who arguably saved the league from bankruptcy by conceiving the idea for the annual player draft, later made the historic decision to introduce “sudden death” overtime—a move that propelled professional football into the national consciousness. He coined the phrase “on any given sunday” and negotiated the league’s first national TV contract. Lyons also describes in fascinating detail Bell’s relationships with leading figures ranging from such Philadelphia icons as Walter Annenberg and John B. Kelly to national celebrities and U.S. Presidents. He also provides insight into Bell’s colorful personal life—including his hell-raising early years and his secret marriage to Frances Upton, a golden name in show business.

    On Any Given Sunday is being published on the 50th anniversary of Bell’s death.

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    From the Publisher
    "Robert S. Lyons' flavorful biography captures the blustery and paternalistic Bell, portraying him as a man who worked relentlessly to keep the NFL alive and push it to thrive....[T]he book is worth reading. One has to appreciate the long string of anecdotes and colorful details Lyons has dug up. Who knew, for instance, that Bell would calm tempers at owners' meetings by taking out his false teeth and putting them in his water glass? More important, no book has detailed Bell's contributions to the NFL so thoroughly."
    —Philadelphia Inquirer



    "I know the book well. It's a terrific book."
    — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, as heard on The Sal Paolantonio Show (ESPN)

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