The late former Tampa Bay Buccaneers executive Culverhouse delivers a stirring and disturbing account of the lengths the NFL has gone to deny retired players support, a task she forewarns is “not a happy story, but it’s a story that needs to be told.” She asserts that “the path from exultation... to the poverty that follows is a quick three-year trip for some players,” and shares stories of the hardships some have endured once their time on the field is over. She writes of former players who are now homeless and showering in truck stops, and those battling depression, which she calls ex-players’ “number one disability.” Elsewhere, she details startling accounts of how poorly the NFL prepares players for life after the game—noting, for instance, that while the league offers a financial literacy course, it also charges players as much as $5,000 to attend—and recounts a class action lawsuit (the “roots” of which began around 2011) against the league regarding the long-term effects of concussions, “the NFL’s biggest existential crisis.” Throughout, Culverhouse comes across as a fierce advocate for ex-players, who she tirelessly championed until her death from cancer in July 2020. This should be necessary reading for football fans.

Publishers Weekly

There is a plethora of books about professional athletes and their post-career lives… The book under review, however, written from the unique perspective of a female former NFL executive, does not focus on players receding from the limelight but instead employs a critical lens to explore race, physical and mental health, domestic violence, and financial difficulties some former NFL players have experienced. This book complements the accounts of individual players and coaches in retirement, providing a singular perspective from an insider who is nevertheless on the outside. As founder of the Retired Player Assistance nonprofit, which helps former professional athletes with many of the problems covered in the book, Culverhouse had direct and authoritative knowledge of the issues she discusses. Written with the assistance of others as her terminal illness progressed, the book was published posthumously, and though the early (biographical) portions of the book can seem overly reverential, the author's sense of mission, the cause that became her life's work, and the firsthand information and articulate arguments presented throughout the book far outweigh any sentimentality that may have crept in because of the circumstances. Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students and faculty. General readers.

Choice Reviews

Throughout the NFL's concussion crisis, Gay Culverhouse was the sole NFL executive -- current or former -- to speak out against the league's treatment of brain injuries. Literally, the only one. Her courage, insight and tell-it-like-it-is determination made her a unique voice. That voice lives on in this book.

Alan Schwarz, former New York Times reporter

Eye opening. Gay Culverhouse was a warrior for NFL players, and her book shines a light on the issues that plague the professional athlete, especially football players. She makes it clear that the culture of football, from Pop Warner to high school and beyond, must focus on teaching young men to be healthy, well-rounded individuals rather than just focusing on teaching them how to help a team be successful. She suggests that change is also needed within the NFL organization. Players must be more than just a physical commodity to be tossed away when it is no longer useful. One can hope that this book might make a difference both for the future players and in the organization.

Scot Brantley, linebacker, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1980-1988

I hope When the Cheering Stops: Life after the NFL receives the recognition it deserves for covering such an important topic.

Seattle Book Review