About this item
Highlights
- During an era of bone-crushing football, a small college team seeks gridiron immortality.
- Author(s): David Neil Drews
- 254 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, General
Description
About the Book
On a quest for sports immortality in 1899, a college football team travels to distant gridirons to battle five formidable foes in six days, while conflicts threaten to derail their epic endeavor.
Book Synopsis
During an era of bone-crushing football, a small college team seeks gridiron immortality. It is November 1899 and the Sewanee Tigers depart from their remote mountaintop campus in Tennessee. Traveling by rail to Texas and back, the undersized Tigers battle five formidable foes in six days.
The teamʼs audacious manager, Alfie Melville, is devoted to his school and the South. He purposely created a quixotic schedule for the Tigers and fully expects his men to sweep their opponents. If they do, the Tigers will become instant collegiate football legends, shine glory on their beloved Sewanee, and announce the arrival of Southern football.
Battered and exhausted, the young men from Tennessee fight prodigious teams on distant gridirons while embroiled in struggles with each other off the field. Deceit, betrayal, and bitter conflicts over money, race, and sex threaten to derail their daring and bold endeavor. To return to Sewanee as heroic, victorious warriors, these teammates must trust and sacrifice for each other.
Iron Tigers is inspired by the actual 1899 Sewanee Tigers football squad, which the NCAA News called a team "unequaled for endurance" and the New York Times declared "the greatest college team ever."
Review Quotes
"Iron Tigers is a lively, engaging fictional account of what was arguably the greatest college football season ever. Drews' novel is a dramatic retelling of the 1899 Sewanee Tigers championship season, but it is also a gripping, nuanced, and emotional story about the players themselves. A fine read for anyone and a must for college football fans."
-Shannon Burke, Executive Producer of Netflix's internationally successful series, Outer Banks and author of Black Flies, a New York Times acclaimed novel, which Sean Penn adapted to film
"Meticulously researched, Iron Tigers transports the reader back to the raw early days of college football and deeply into the lives and troubled hearts of the men who fought to bring glory to their school."
-Pamela Schoenewaldt, USA Today Bestselling author of When We Were Strangers
"Iron Tigers is a great read. Well written, entertaining, and I was unable to put it down."
-Bobby Majors, University of Tennessee All-American football player and son of Shirley Majors, legendary football coach at Sewanee: The University of the South