In over 600 entries on collegiate and professional American football players, coaches, teams, leagues, and executives, Grasso (independent scholar) addresses the history of the sport. Individual entries are up to two pages long and have boldface cross-references to other articles. The book begins with a historical chronology of football and a good introductory essay that should provide novices with a basic understanding of this predominantly North American sport. Biographical entries include date and place of birth and death (if deceased); they offer narrative descriptions of players' football careers without including individual season and career statistics, which are readily available online. Entries for leagues, teams, and universities are particularly well-written and interconnect with the biographies to place individuals in the broader context of the history of the sport. Numerous appendixes include lists of award winners and league/collegiate champions; unexpected lists, such as one for foreign-born National Football League players, are also available. The lengthy bibliography of suggested readings is a nice addition. This book would be a welcome acquisition for most academic libraries. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates; general readers.

Choice Reviews

Grasso (Historical Dictionary of Tennis) acknowledges that attempting to define everything involved in football is akin to throwing a Hail Mary pass. Instead, he sets his pigskin parameters; 600 alphabetically arranged, cross-referenced entries cover a “fair representation” of both amateur (collegiate) and professional players, coaches, teams, and executives as the game has been played in North America over the last 150 years. A chronology and introduction provide context, and 16 appendixes showcase fans’ beloved gridiron data. VERDICT An essential addition to library collections with other titles in this series.

Library Journal

From the Alabama Crimson Tide to legendary coach Bob Zuppke, football remains America's favorite sport. This historical dictionary includes in excess of 600 alphabetic entries, players, coaches, and teams that have contributed to professional and college football. Examples are a one-page entry on Virginia Tech and its rich football tradition, a similar entry on the Washington Redskins, the Sugar Bowl, and terms such as flea flicker and pylon—word count for terms are briefer and teams and players are longer. The entries are both factual and interesting, and cross-references are in bold print. . . .[T]he dictionary aims at a general audience and successfully so. There are 16 appendixes covering Championship teams and games, Heisman Trophy winners, and football films. There is a 20-page chronology and a 24-page bibliography, but no index. In all, this 14th volume in Scarecrow’s Historical Dictionary of Sports series adds to the literature of football and sports.

American Reference Books Annual

John Grasso has authored a compact, yet fairly comprehensive dictionary of the history of American football at the college and professional levels. At the professional level, Grasso includes both American football and its slightly different counterpart north of the border, football as played in Canada. . . . On the whole, this is a very comprehensive effort for what is arguably the most popular spectator sport in North America. . . .Grasso deserves credit for keeping his entries short. For example, the entry on Vince Lombardi, one of the most important figures in the history of the NFL, is less than two pages in length. The appendices provide a wealth of information. . . .This should be a standard reference work for most libraries. The popularity of football in the USA and Canada cannot be denied, and this is the most current, up-to-date reference work on the topic. It belongs in most libraries.

Reference Reviews