Customer Reviews

A Fire to Win: The Life and Times of Woody Hayes

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's easy to remember Woody Hayes as a brutal tyrant on the football field, who was able to turn on his country charm for the media and fans away from it. A folk hero and coaching icon who was tragically brought down by personal demons in the form of a punch to an opposing player during a football game.

But how does a man like Woody Hayes become the stuff of legend? I think that in order to understand a man, you have to know where he came from. A Fire To Win is more than just a recounting of the same stories we've heard over and over. The book takes us on a journey through a man's life in order that we may understand him, even if we don't agree with him.

A brutal tyrant, yet mentor, academic advisor, and friend. A staunch conservative, yet defender of student's rights to rage against the machine. A man who recognized the value of power, but cared not for the money associated with it. A preacher of family values who rarely came home from work. An enigma to be sure, but when seen over the light of a lifetime, somehow, his choices make sense.

The infamous punch is of course perhaps the single most defining moment in the life of Woody Hayes. One may think that this is where the story ends. A Fire To Win takes us well beyond this moment to witness the remarkable resurrection of a remarkable man. Fittingly, this is where the real story ends.

A Fire To Win is a fascinating read about the life of the enigma, icon and flawed hero that was Woody Hayes.

The definative Hayes bio. No "idol worship" and no ax job. This the real Woody. Love him or hate him, he went 238-72 and won 5 National Titles his way. His kids got college degrees, Woody ABSOLUTELY made sure of that. Woody's discipline is what America needs today, now more than ever. I pulled an ALL NIGHTER the day I got this book, I just had to finish it.

Mr. Lombardo seems intent on being overly objective in his book by always finding a way to knock Woody even when paying him compliments. Some examples:
1. Woody was no racist and had black players on the team...but no black QB came aboard until well after other Big 10 teams. (So what? Does that dismiss the civil rights work he supported? Why does that need to be mentioned multiple times?)
2. Woody was well read and very knowledgable about topics but was not a scholar because he didn't deeply explore areas that did not fit his political/cultural beliefs. (So he wanted Woody to read Marx and Mao? Give me a break with this.)

I scatched my head at these and related passages. The book ends strong with Lombardo quoting from various players and coaches about the legacy of this great man and coach.

However if you are a true Buckeye fan I caution you against expecting too much here. The author has consolidated information from various sources but has not effectively added enough of his own input to truly paint a vivid picture of the coach (for my taste).

Perhaps I'm too spoiled by McCullough and Kearns-Goodwin biographies. While Woody doesn't merit their attention, Mr. Lombardo's effort does not reach their standards of taking the primary sources and writing a text that leaves you thinking you've met the man in the flesh. I wish I had.

This was everything it was advertised to be, and to top it off, it was very well packaged. Very pleased with this seller.

This was a book I looked forward to reading from the moment I heard about it. I received it for Christmas and read it immediately. The book is very hard to put down and could easily be read in one or two very long sittings. What took away from the very pleasant story line and delivery was the extremely poor editing. Many times in the book I had to suffer through either double or missing articles or dates that contradicted each other. Often times words were mixed up such as "the of" instead of "of the". These were minor annoyances but still distracted from my reading pleasure.

I was confused about the writers real intent. If everything the writer said is true, than the "Ohio State Football Program" was even greater than history will recognize it for. It seems that many if not most of the games and titles lost were directly related to the coach which would lead us to believe that the team should have many more titles to it's credit.

Overall I want to believe that the writer was fair and balanced in his praise and critique of Woody Hayes. Growing up in Ohio, many of the things I knew to be true and had heard rumors of most of the rest of it.

John Lombardo's A FIRE TO WIN is a good, not great biography of Woody Hayes.
Where Lombardo excells is looking at Hayes's Ohio roots growing up in Newcomerstown, his college days at Denison University in Granville, and his time coaching New Philadelphia. Where he stumbles is his picking and choosing of the narrative describing Hayes OSU seasons post-1950s. It is as if Lombardo had a book that naturally ended with the controversy surrounding the faculty vote in 1961 to keep OSU from playing in the Rose Bowl.

Still, any book centering on a character such as Hayes is always interesting reading.

A FIRE TO WIN IS A NICE READ, BUT DON'T REALLY EXPECT TO KNOW WOODY THE PERSON. IN MY OPINION THIS BOOK DOES A GREAT JOB GOING THRU EACH OF THE SEASONS THAT WOODY COACHED. BUT I DON'T REALLY HAVE A GOOD IDEA WHAT WOODY WAS LIKE EXCEPT FOR BEING A SLAVE DRIVER OF A COACH, DISCIPLINARIAN, ABSENT FAMILY MAN, AND OBSESSED WITH WINNING. I PICTURE HIM AS BEING VERY SELF CENTERED, EGO TRIP, BRASH AND VERY ABRASIVE. HIS WIFE GOT HER OWN LIFE. HE IS VERY MUCH LIKE VINCE LOMBARDI IN HIS COACHING STYLE. I REALLY WANTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE SOFT SIDE OF WOODY AND MORE ABOUT WHAT HE DID AFTER FOOTBALL. LIKE HIM OR HATE HIM, HE WAS A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL COACH AND DID A LOT FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL. I RECOMMEND THIS FOR ALL COLLEGE FOOTBALL FANS FOR A SOLID AND INTERESTING READ.

I received the book for Christmas and read it in the span of about 4 hours. It sheds little new light on an enigmatic man who arguably was one of the best coaches in college football. I was very disappointed with the editing; too many grammatical and typographical errors. In some cases nouns and pronouns were in contrast and sentences did not have subjects or predicates. Also, the author designated Miami University (Oxford, OH) teams as the Indians. Prior to changing the name to the RedHawks, Miami's teams were called the Redskins for decades. I have not found one reference to their being called the Indians. A volume on such a noteworthy figure should strive for accuracy.

I am an Ohio State Buckeye Football fan and found the book to be interesting, but not in the top 20% of books that I've read. There are a few other books about Woody, but I have not read them. The author could have interviewed more former players and colleagues of Woody. Most interesting is how Woody originally got the Buckeye head coaching job and the discussion of his life immediately after his firing.