Everybody's All-American - by Frank Deford (Paperback)

About the Book

With a new Preface by the author, this novel was named one of the top 25 sports books of all time by "Sports Illustrated. "Everybody's All American" is not a book [just] about football, but about relationships . . . between men and women, men and men, and gods and mortals."--Dick Schaap.

Book Synopsis

Gavin Grey is everyone's All-American. A star running back at the University of North Carolina in the late 1950s, he graces the covers of Time and LIFE magazines and appears on the "Ed Sullivan Show." Everyone wants a piece of him or to be around him to bask in his glory, including his nephew Donny, who narrates the story and is Gavin's only real confidant.After college, Gavin goes on to the NFL where he has a solid career. As his playing days wind down and the cheering stops, however, he finds the adjustment to life as an ex-athlete difficult to accept. His wife "Babs" goes off to work, becomes the primary breadwinner for the family while Gavin continues to trade on his memories of old times, when he was everybody's All-American.

About the Author

Frank Deford is a Senior Writer at Sports Illustrated, is heard every Wednesday on NPR's Morning Edition, and is a regular correspondent on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. He is the author of fourteen books, two of which have been made into movies, including Everybody's All-American with Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange. He has been voted U.S. Sportswriter of the Year six times, and GQ magazine has called him, simply, "the world's greatest sportswriter." He has also won both an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award. He lives in Westport, Connecticut.