The National Forgotten League: Entertaining Stories and Observations from Pro Football's First Fifty Years Paperback – October 1, 2012

Simply an enjoyable read. Pick it up and it's hard to put down. Great story telling and antidotal information that has been difficult to find. What a labor of love by Mr. Daly. Thank you!

Fascinating reading..chock full of never read before information. Dan Daly must have the tenacity of a bulldog.Surely, it took total dedication to dig up all this information.As a diehard Giants' fan I, of course, read and reread all the anecdotes about them.There is a quote in the book from one of the early NFL Commissioners. In the quote, he cautions owners not to let their egos overshadow their good judgement, and to allow their coaches to coach. That quote is something that Jerry Jones needs to read.

I've been in love with the NFL since the years that the Detroit Lions ruled the world. In other words, for a very long time. And for sheer entertainment value, The National Forgotten League has got to be right up there on the short list of absolute must-reads about the game as it was before big TV money and saturation marketing took over.You'll read about the often-sloshed crowds that would occasionally stagger onto the field during the Prohibition years. There are tales of how the Giants would schedule games against prison teams, a practice repeated by the Chicago Bears as late as 1950. We find out how the Hall of Fame QB Dutch Clark didn't show up for the 1932 championship game, because he felt obliged to honor his contract to coach his Colorado College basketball team, whose first practice session was two days before Clark's Portsmouth Spartans met the Chicago Bears for all the marbles---on an 80 yard field laid down in the same Chicago Stadium where Michael Jordan later led the Chicago Bulls to their first three NBA championships.You'll learn about how the teams that played for NFL championships would often schedule exhibition rematches just weeks later, anything to grab a buck, and how first the Eagles and Steelers and then the Steelers and Cardinals combined their teams during World War II because of the drain of the military draft on NFL rosters. You'll discover the story of Bill Belichick's father Steve, who in a matter of months worked his way up from the Lions' equipment manager to being their leading punt returner. These stories are but the tip of the iceberg, taking the league from the Decatur Staleys and the Oorang Indians all the way up to the merger with the AFL. It's a book that no football fan should be without.

I played football when the drop-kick was going out of style, but the single-wing was still used by some teams, especially in high school. It was great to hear about the small-towns that used to have pro football, like the Providence Steam Roller. I myself played both ways in high school, and it was rough, but no one thought that much about it in those days. It was real football, and this book gets those anecdotes down before they are lost. But many modern fans will not understand the importance of these histoical football facts, and that is a shame.

If you enjoy reading about early sports history or anything on football this is the book for you. From the author who wrote one of the best football books ever, The Pro Football Chronicle (with Bob O'Donnell in 1990), comes another enjoyable read. Covering the NFL's first fifty years Dan Daly writes about the league's forgotten era before the game of football became the country's number one sport. Worth reading.

Fast read for football and history buffs. I enjoyed the perspective it offered for the early years of the N. F. L.

The author's enthusiasm for pro football, its roots and its formative years is obvious. The stories he shares are interesting, often humorous, and always entertaining for a football junkie like me. Makes me wish I could see some of those old games on TV. Highly recommended for anybody with an appreciation of the game.

Terrific history lesson in professional football. Very, very detailed including a lot of side stories and forgotten statistics.

the NFL is now one of the most popular sporting competitions worldwide, but it too had to start somewhere.in this book dan daly takes you back in time with funny and interesting stories of how it all beganinteresting reading material for all those interested in the NFL