Customer Reviews

First Down and a Billion: The Funny Business of Pro Football

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This book had me rolling in my chair! I'm a football fan (now a converted Charger fan) and the events recounted here bring back a lot of memories. Gene Klein was a masterful storyteller. His descriptions of such characters as Al Davis, Leonard Tose, Dan Fouts, and Rolf Benirschke are dead-on. Just as interesting, in my opinion, is his recounting of his life and career before he bought the San Diego Chargers, and after he sold them (he turned to breeding race horses, one of whom, Tank's Prospect, won the 1986 Preakness Stakes). His recounting of his days in the used car ("cheaper by the pound than hamburger!"), film theater and insurance businesses paints a vivid picture of what it was like in post-World War II southern California, when opportunity was waiting with open arms for those willing to take a chance. He is not above recounting his mistakes, such as the time when he backed Minnie Pearl's Fried Chicken (a franchise named after the Grand Ole Opry legend), but when he sat down to take his first sampling of it, he developed HEARTBURN. And there was the time when, trelying on the advice of his son, he passed up on the American concert rights to THE BEATLES.