Lamar Hunt: A Life in Sports [Hardcover]

Michael MacCambridge (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 2, 2012

Written by award-winning author Michael MacCambridge, this is the definitive, official biography of one of the 20th century’s most important and beloved sporting figures; the soft-spoken, strong-willed man whose audacious challenge to the National Football League transformed American sports. Hunt revolutionized three different sports—pro football, tennis, and soccer—winding up in the Hall of Fame of each. Drawing on 50 years of Hunt’s personal papers and more than 200 interviews, MacCambridge provides an intimate, original portrait of the man forever captivated by these serious pursuits we call games.     

"I can't separate what part of pro football is business and what part is personal with me," he said. "I just know that it is very important that I succeed."

He had loved games as a young boy, had played them as a young man, and now, as a naive but determined 27-year-old in the summer of 1959, Lamar Hunt announced that he was going to launch a new football league.

What he couldn't possibly have known on that day was that the forces of the entrenched National Football League would soon be arrayed against him. The league would place its own team in his hometown of Dallas, in direct competition with his team, and would attempt to undermine the new league, trying on repeated occasions before that first season to prevent the new American Football League from ever starting.

And what the NFL couldn't have known, but would soon find out, was that Hunt, the mild-mannered, bespectacled son of legendary oilman H. L. Hunt, had an indomitable will, and patience beyond his years. Resolute and innovative, he successfully launched the AFL and, seven years later, helped broker a merger deal, which created the need for a championship game between the two leagues. Then he came up with the name of the game--the Super Bowl.

Never before, and not since, has anyone with so many resources spent so much time watching, participating in, and being captivated by the absorbing ritual of sports and the suspended state of play. His accomplishments would put him in the company of the other giants of American sports--Charles C. "Cash and Carry" Pyle, Abe Saperstein, George Halas, Branch Rickey, Red Auerbach, Pete Rozelle. Each was present at a revolution. But Hunt, significantly, was present at a number of revolutions. And he was the catalyst for each one. Before his death in 2006, Hunt revolutionized three different sports--pro football, tennis, and soccer--winding up in the Hall of Fame of each.

Written by award-winning author Michael MacCambridge, Lamar Hunt: A Life In Sports is the definitive and official biography of one of the 20th century's most important and beloved sporting figures; the soft-spoken, strong-willed man whose audacious challenge to the NFL transformed the landscape of American sports, but only served as an opening act to his epic sporting journey. Drawing on 50 years of Hunt's personal papers and more than 200 interviews, author Michael MacCambridge provides an intimate, original portrait of the man forever captivated by these serious pursuits we call games.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael MacCambridge has written about movies, music, and popular culture, but he is best known as one of the nation's foremost authorities on pro and college football. His book America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured A Nation was named one of the most distinguished works of non-fiction by the Washington Post in 2004. MacCambridge's freelance work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, GQ, and many other publications. Since 1997, he has been an adjunct professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; First Edition edition (October 2, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1449423396
• ISBN-13: 978-1449423391
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael MacCambridge has written about movies, music and popular culture, but he is best known as one of the nation's foremost authorities on pro and college football.

His 2004 book 'America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured A Nation' was published by Random House, and named by The Washington Post as one of the most distinguished works of non-fiction in 2004. The book also won the Nelson Ross Award given by the Professional Football Researchers Association, for outstanding achievement in pro football research and history. The paperback version was published by Anchor Vintage in 2005.

In 2012, he wrote 'Lamar Hunt: A Life in Sports,' the official biography of the American sportsman inducted in the pro football, international tennis and national soccer halls of fame.

His first book was 'The Franchise: A History of Sports Illustrated Magazine,' which was named as a New York Times Noteworthy Book, and described by the Boston Globe as "one of the great sports-book reads of all time." In 1999, he was the editor and a contributing writer for the New York Times bestseller 'ESPN SportsCentury,' a retrospective of sports in the 20th Century that included original essays by David Halberstam, Joyce Carol Oates, Roy Blount, Jr., Gerald Early, and others.

In 2005, MacCambridge edited the critically-acclaimed 'ESPN College Football Encyclopedia,' hailed by Sports Illustrated as "the Bible" of the sport.

In 2009, MacCambridge co-authored 'More Than A Game: The Glorious Present and Uncertain Future of the NFL,' with Brian Billick, the Super Bowl-winning former head coach of the Baltimore Raves. Also in 2009, MacCambridge was one of the contributing essayists to 'A New Literary History of America,' by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors.

MacCambridge's freelance work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, GQ, and many other publications. From 1988-95, he was a columnist and critic at the Austin American-Statesman, writing about movies, music and popular culture. He earned a Master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 1986. A year earlier, he received his B.A. from Creighton University in Omaha.

Since 1997, he has been an adjunct professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and performed a wide range of public speaking and editorial consulting work. The father of two children, Miles and Ella, he lives in St. Louis.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Quiet and Major Force in Major League American Sports October 9, 2012

By James J. Kane VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

"He is not remembered, like his father, for being a mythic figure of oil and politics and manifest destiny. Instead, Lamar Hunt was renowned because he was perhaps the most unusual combination ever of decency, innovation, secretiveness, optimism, persistence, naivete, politesse, shyness, loyalty, and an irrepressible love of the moment."

In the pantheon of American sports, especially football and notably coaches and owners, the names of Halas, Lombardi, and Brown come easily to mind. And yet, a Texas born son of an well known and powerful oil man, has shaped the game we watch today in ways that if not overshadow at least stands tall above a long time and influential owner in the NFL , a legendary coach whose teams won the first two Super Bowls, and perhaps the game's most innovative offensive genus. But Lamar Hunt did more than influence and shape the game of contemporary American football, he shaped and influenced the landscape of sports around the world in ways that many of us have yet to realize.

Michael MacCambridge takes us on a journey to help us discover just how much and how far Lamar Hunt, a shy and polite man who often downplayed his wealth, yet used it to bring spectator sports in America to a new level, changed the nature and status of sports in late 20th-century America.

"To understand all that he had accomplished, it was useful to remember how humble and provincial the American sports industry was in the late '50s. The games, even then, were a vital part of the leisure time of a group of spirited, youthful minded people. But in 1959, one could walk down a street in virtually any major city in America, and see no evidence whatsoever of the existence of spectator sports in the country... By the time of Lamar's death, sports had breached the walls of mainstream culture, and insinuated itself into the daily fabric of American media, discourse and popular culture. pages 345-346

Published by Andrews MacMeel Publishing, Lamar Hunt: A Life in Sports takes us back to a time in Texas, and really in America, where college football, especially in Texas ruled the hearts of men and women... and small boys who became fascinated with the latest college stars. But as the nation grew and expanded in the 1950's professional football began to catch professional baseball for the hearts (and wallets) of the American sports public. The city of Dallas, well in the heartland of America, had tried to ensure that professional football would gain a foothold in Texas. But it did not and after the 1952 Dallas Texans folded, college football remained the game for Texas.

Until Lamar Hunt began in the late 50's to seek to bring a new NFL team to Dallas.

And then as MacCambridge tells it, rebuffed, Hunt decided to start a new league which created a response from the NFL and then as America entered the 1960's, created a clash, then a competition, and finally a merger between the upstart league, the AFL (American Football League) and the NFL that has shaped the game and the culture as we know it today.

But Hunt was not done. Attending a World Cup game in the mid-1960's he determined to bring the Cup to America and make soccer at home in America. He did it but it took him 30 years and really the rest of his life to make it part of the main stream of American sports. First with the North America Soccer League (NASL) which eventually folded in the mid 1980's and then the MLS or Major League Soccer in 1996 with Hunt owning several teams and getting two soccer specific stadiums built - one in Columbus Ohio and in the Dallas, Texas area.

And then there was tennis where Lamar challenged the long held traditions and set the tennis world on its ear.

And MacCambridge tells all of this and more, the personal behind-the-scenes, challenges, triumphs, and tragedy of Lamar Hunt and his family and his loves, as he presents lovers of spectator sports and of the history of sports the story of a man who loved to sit in the stands with the fans and do things to bring them into the stands of the stadiums that he would see built.

Clearly written and comprehensive in scope, Lamar Hunt: A Life in Sports is a wonderful introduction to man I had heard of but had no idea what he had helped to make happen in his life time. It draws on interviews with his family and close friends and presents a comprehensive picture of a loved man who love sports and devoted his life to make sports main stream.

I liked this book because it gave me a new and unique view of American sports history in my lifetime.

I rate this book an 'outstanding' read.

Note: I received a galley copy of this book from the publisher via Net Galley. I was not required to write a positive review

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book Worthy of the Legend October 17, 2012

By ISN Soccer

Format:Hardcover

Lamar Hunt is a legend among legends, the most decorated man in all of American sports. He was an innovator that brought sporting diversity to America. He created a professional league that would take on the NFL, forcing one of the most incredible mergers in the history of sports. He made professional tennis relevant and saved American soccer twice. Lifetimes of accomplishments could be found in a man that saw work and pleasure as the very same thing. He never gave up, was incredibly loyal and humble, and was a true visionary in every sense of the world.

It is safe to say that Mr. Hunt is an idol of mine. He represents the best of the beautiful game in America. He fell in love with soccer and wanted to share it with all Americans, creating the original NASL in the process. The league would bring the world's game to the States, inspiring a new generation of fans and players. He was there for the highs of Pelé and the Cosmos and the lows of the league's complete collapse.

But when Hunt put his mind to something, things happened. He didn't give up on soccer and eventually became one of the key architects of a new league, MLS. Again he propped up the league on his shoulders, ensuring that soccer would live another day in America.

With Lamar Hunt's incredible work in the past, American soccer has a solid foundation that has it poised for a breakthrough of breakthroughs in the next 15-20 years. Without Hunt, soccer would have been nothing more than a memory.

This is the first book that really does the Hunt family justice and that is saying something. It captures the spirit of an American pioneer, a gentleman that loved sports as no other man could. He could easily have consumed himself with the family oil business, but instead he invested millions in games that entertained all of America. Rather than being just a fan, Mr. Hunt was a benefactor at the highest level. That's why is a Hall of Famer in soccer, tennis, and of course American football.

The story of Lamar Hunt offers something for everyone, but the most important thing is the legacy he left behind after his death.

I think this quote accurately describes the influence of Lamar Hunt:

"A father leaves his legacy behind with the good hearts and souls of the children he raises."

Mr. Hunt's dream of moving American sport forward is now the dream of his family, his children and grandchildren. His son Clark has been a driving force behind American soccer in Columbus and Dallas. The new family business is in very good hands.

5.0 out of 5 stars love Lamar and the book May 22, 2013

By kathleen allegri

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Wonderful book! about a wonderful, special man who had much more impact than a die hard KC Chiefs fan and avid sports fan even knew