Tigers by the River A True and Accurate Tale of the Early Days of Pro Football eBook Wylie Graham McLallen
Download As PDF : Tigers by the River A True and Accurate Tale of the Early Days of Pro Football eBook Wylie Graham McLallen 
The Memphis Tigers were a professional football team in the early years of professional football. They were first organized by Early Maxwell, a well known Southern sportswriter, who quickly gave way by selling his interests to the wealthiest entrepreneur in Memphis, Clarence Saunders, who founded the Piggly-Wiggly grocery chain, the first self-service grocery stores in America. In keeping with the times, Saunders quickly bought the services of the finest players available, several of whom are early inductees of the NFL Hall of Fame, scheduled the best teams in the country, including the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. In fact, in 1929 their last game of the season was against the NFL champions Green Bay Packers, whom the Tigers beat before a packed stadium in Memphis to proclaim themselves as the national professional ball champions.
This is a story of the early years of professional football when players moved from team to team and the owners scratched out a living. Appearing throughout the manuscript are some of the most illustrious names in professional football George Halas, Wellington Mara, Johnny Blood McNally, Curly Lambeau, Bronko Nagurski, Red Grange, and many others who are no less interesting if not so famous. It was a different time, the late 1920s and early 1930s, a segregated American society but with great changes happening that are reflected in this story. The research was extensive, microfilms of old newspaper, and yielded much gold.
Tigers by the River A True and Accurate Tale of the Early Days of Pro Football eBook Wylie Graham McLallen
Fascinating story about the early days of professional football in Memphis. Would have loved to seen the Tigers in the NFL!Product details
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Tigers by the River A True and Accurate Tale of the Early Days of Pro Football eBook Wylie Graham McLallen Reviews
Professional football has a long, but somewhat unusual history in the US. For many years, not only was it a weak competitor to professional baseball, but couldn’t even manage to outdraw college=or even high school- football. The Memphis Tigers were a professional team, and this book tracks their history from their founding through the years of the Great Depression. Along the way, Wylie Graham McLallen gives us not only a view of early pro football, but also a nice cross-sectional look at life in the American heartland.
=== The Good Stuff ===
* In many ways, the game was already taking on some of its familiar aspects. You can see the rise of the forward pass and more high-scoring offenses, but also the development of league play, competitive bidding of player salaries, “luxury” box seating, egotistical owners and the occasional scandal.
* I enjoyed reading of professional football when it was a much more informal game. Teams were scheduled on short notice, player rosters made up at the last minute, games often cancelled because the opposing team got a better offer, or the World Series was underway, or a particularly good high-school football game was scheduled. Players were not full-time professional athletes, and might be found bagging groceries, building houses or selling cars during the week or off-season.
* The book touches on some characters who would become famous in football history. The Memphis Tigers cross paths with the likes of George Halas, Bronco Nagurski and Curly Lambeau, and we see these men begin to develop the NFL out of the chaos of early pro and semi-pro football.
* McLallen spends part of the book describing how football mixes in with Depression-era America. The team fights to draw attendance, and one game draws 48 fans at 85 cents each. Meanwhile Notre Dame and Army drew over 80,000 fans to a single game in Yankee Stadium. The book also discusses early efforts at using “civic pride” to finance a sports team, as grocers and department stores sponsor and support the loses of the Tigers over the years.
=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===
* Much of the book is made up of game summaries. While these do give a flavor for how the game was played, they take up quite a bit of the book, involve many players that I had never heard of, and just sort of run together in a forgettable “three yards and a cloud of dust”.
* There is little of the “big picture”. The reader is left to his own devices to make any connections between modern football and its roots, and there is not much discussion of the business or marketing strategy behind the game. In short, much of the book is a recitation of events rather than any sort of analysis or conclusions.
* The book could have been improved by adding more historical context. For example, there is much discussion of ticket prices and player salaries, but precious little to compare it to. How much did a movie ticket cost in Memphis in 1935? Or what was the salary of a pro baseball player? Or a stock clerk?
=== Summary ===
The book was fine for what it was, but I found myself wanting more of a high-level discussion of what was happening, both in the development of organized sports and in the country in general. Parts of the book that dealt with the specifics of game play were interesting, but too much of this content was indistinguishable and did not lead to any obvious conclusions. The discussion of life in depression-era Memphis was certainly interesting, and could have been expanded.
I suppose hard-core sports fans would be interested in the book, but I believe more casual fans of the game would grow bored with the level of detail and lack of analysis and high-level discussion.
=== Disclaimer ===
I was able to read an advance copy through the courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley.
I was curious about the story of Memphis’ professional football team and its visionary owner so I picked up a copy of Tigers by the River by Wylie Graham McLallen. However, though a little bit of my curiosity was satisfied, the content of the book left me wanting more.
By more I don’t mean more names of players and game recaps – of which the book provides plenty. By more I mean insights into the players, the teams, the owners and the league – of which the book provides few.
Wylie acknowledges that much of his material was gathered from newspaper writings from the era and from only a couple of personal interviews. So it’s understandable how it would be difficult to provide insight into events beyond what a collection of newspaper articles might relate. Unfortunately the lack of insight means the book ends up being less an intriguing story about the people involved than it is an uninspiring rundown of names, plays and events.
Tigers by the Rivers will be of interest to Memphis football fans as well as to pro football historians. But maybe Tigers by the River’s greatest value will be as a foundation for a future author/researcher to pen a more all-encompassing exploration of Memphis football.
Great book!!
Fascinating story about the early days of professional football in Memphis. Would have loved to seen the Tigers in the NFL!
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