A Beauty Of A Book Review: Pro Football: The World of the NFL

Good morning, Uni Watchers. It’s Friday — we made it!

Longtime pal and conrtibutor Jimmy Parker has authored many articles for Uni Watch over the years, and when I took over the ediorship from Paul back at the end of May, I asked Jimmy if he’d like to contribute more articles, on about a monthly-ish basis, and he heartily agreed. Jimmy is the proprietor of the most excellent Beauty Of A Game website, and he also goes by that handle on Twitter-X and Bluesky.

Mr. Parker returns today with another wonderful piece that’s part book review, part history lesson. Some of you may be familiar with the book, heck, some of you may have even owned a copy. I never owned this particular work of art, but growing up I had several similar ones (for both football and baseball). So this is not just a fun read, but it’ll be a trip down memory lane for a number of readers. If you like it, Jimmy tells you where he gets many of his finds. And if that fails, there’s always eBay.

Here’s Jimmy with…

• • • • •A Beauty Of A Book Review: Pro Football: The World of the NFL
by Jimmy Parker

One of the things I enjoy in my spare time is checking out used bookstores and thrift stores in search of old sports books. Not only are these avenues good for finding incredible deals, but I can also occasionally find some really great additions to the Beauty of a Game library. While the genre of sports books I usually purchase varies (general history, team history, biography, statistical analysis, etc.), one of my favorite types of sports book to find is a pictorial history. I’ve long been drawn to the look of things, how they’re designed and their overall aesthetic, so finding older books full of photographs or illustrations of sports’ bygone eras is always a thrill. Starting today and in the future I’ll be sharing with Uni Watch readers a glimpse into some of my best-loved books of this genre.

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One of my favorite finds of this type is a 1972 book, “Pro Football: The World of the NFL”. The book was written by Mike Rathet and the Editors of Pro Quarterback Magazine, at the time a monthly magazine focused on the league. The book features photographs and some analysis from the magazine’s pages, as well as some articles written especially for the book. At over 300 pages the book isn’t thin and while most of the photographs are black and white there are 64 pages of full-color photos showing us that era of the NFL in all its glory.

As I flipped through the book, one of the first things I noticed is that this was indeed football from another time, a time when the league wasn’t as buttoned up as it is today. This was a time when the league was just beginning to catch and would ultimately surpass baseball as America’s most popular sport.

Many photos show examples of a sport somewhat lacking in self awareness – when the game was more about the game itself and less about the appearance and the spectacle. Helmet decals are crumpled and torn.

Jersey numbering is frayed and unevenly sewn.

Ace bandages are used and applied in a style that today seems almost amateurish.

These are portraits of a sport before it fully understood the importance of visual branding and aesthetic presentation in addition to offering exciting on-field action.

But once I got past the photos that may look crude or amateurish compared to today’s in-game action shots, I quickly and easily fell in love with these photos of the game’s earlier era. It was almost like watching an old NFL Films documentary, and more than once I caught myself reading the accompanying copy in the voice of long-time NFL Films narrator John Facenda. Perhaps because there’s a quality to many of these photos that just “feels like” the football so often presented in those early NFL Films programs. It’s dirty. It’s tough. It’s not glamorous. These aren’t athletes so much as they are football players.

While several spreads feature multiple smaller photos, enhancing the visual impact of the action-packed photos, the book really excels when showing off the stars of the game in full-page pics. As quarterbacks have seemingly always been the stars of the league there are lots of QB shots included. There’s Jets QB “Broadway Joe” Namath calling a play at the line of scrimmage.

Chiefs legendary QB Len Dawson warming his hands the old-fashioned way while on the sideline.

Cowboys QB Roger Staubach about to be sacked by the Falcons’ Claude Humphrey, in a shot that shows both teams wearing 1969’s NFL 50th Anniversary patch on the shoulder of their jerseys.

Dolphins QB Bob Griese dropping back in the pocket.

But the book does go farther than its namesake magazine by featuring more than simply quarterbacks – there are running backs, linebackers, defensive ends and more.

All in all this is a great volume to flip through and just leisurely check out the photos. The book is a great collection of images capturing a unique time in the history of the NFL, as it was becoming our country’s most popular sport and big business. It’s a wonderful stroll down Memory Lane, even if my memories of most of these players are from later in their careers — or in the case of several, their post-playing acting careers.

• • • • •Thanks Jimmy! Great stuff, as always.

Since May, Jimmy has done an absolutely fantastic piece on the Top 10 Sports Movie Posters of all time, as well as two wonderful articles on Norman Rockwell: Norman Rockwell — Uni Watcher? and Norman Rockwell — Behind The Scenes, and a look back at James Earl Jones’ Man Cave in The Sandlot. Another incredible piece from Jimmy was IDing souvenirs from Ebbets Field. His most recent offering was a review of “Movies with Balls”.

Did any of you have this (or similar) books growing up? Do you still have them? I’m sure I’m looking at this with the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, but there was something very endearing about those football and baseball books of the early and mid-seventies.

Your thoughts?