Remember the AFL: The Ultimate Fan's Guide to the American Football League [Paperback]

David Steidel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

Remember the AFL features an unprecedented season-by-season, team-by-team history of the league that lasted from 1960 to 1969. Through in-depth research, dozens of player interviews, and hundreds of photos, including many classic football cards, this book brings that unique era in professional football to life. It’s all here, from the behind-the-scenes stories of the early days, when the league struggled for survival, through Super Bowl III, when “Broadway” Joe Namath guaranteed — and delivered — a victory against the NFL’s Baltimore Colts. Fans will also relive the history of the AFL by engaging the challenge of over 500 trivia questions. This is pure 1960s nostalgia for football fans old and young.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Clerisy Press (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578603234
• ISBN-13: 978-1578603237
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #516,742 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dave Steidel developed his passion for the American Football League in its first season. Since then he has been an avid fan and historian of the league and wrote 'Remember The AFL' because in his words "Every book I ever read about the AFL left me wanting more... so I set out to write the book I always wanted to read." This book is an invitation to savor the past, offering a chance to travel back in time, revisit your youth and feast on its memories. It is an educational journey through a time capsule about an adventure necessitated by greed and endorsed by the American spirit. Remember the AFL is about dreams and their fulfillment, youth and its growth toward maturity, passion and the pursuit of remembering the best times of your life.

Dave continues research and read about the history of the AFL which includes visiting the remembertheafl.com website to stay in contact with other AFL aficionados.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top-notch retrospective on the AFL, October 4, 2008

By 

Polymath (Ithaca NY USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Remember the AFL: The Ultimate Fan's Guide to the American Football League (Paperback)

Like the author, I followed the AFL during all its years of operation. Unlike the author, I was never a collector of football cards, so I really enjoyed the plethora of them that are presented, in color, in this book.

However, this is not just a photo book. There is a well-written retrospective on each season, which is organized team-by-team (rather than week-by-week, for instance). I couldn't detect any particular order in which the teams are covered within each season, except that the two teams involved in the league championship game are covered last, with the winner being the very last team covered. The championship game itself (and later the Super Bowl) is covered within the material on the teams, rather than having a separate space. The AFL All Star games, however, are each given about a separate half page of coverage at the end of the seasons when the game was played.

Within this format, each team is given at least three pages each season, with the championship winner given up to eight pages. For each team within a season, the coverage is chronological, with more important games and player moves discussed in greater depth. Rushing, passing, receiving, and scoring stats for team leaders conclude each team section.

The seasonal retrospectives make up Part I of the book, about 350 pages (after 20 or so pages of introductory material); Part II of the book, the trivia section, is only about 50 pages long. However, in addition to this designated trivia section, there are trivia type questions interspersed throughout the retrospective sections as well.

I did find a few typos, almost inevitable in a book with this many numbers and names, but the only actual misstatement I found (p52) was that Tom Harmon, who broadcast some AFL games, had never played pro football (he played for the Rams in '46 and '47)--a non-substantive error relative to the topic of the book.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a great book, October 3, 2008

By 

Stephen Hennigan MD - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Remember the AFL: The Ultimate Fan's Guide to the American Football League (Paperback)

Dave Steidel chronicals the birth and growth of the American Football League in a lively and entertaining way. He tells the stories both as a passionate fan and also as a sports historian, emphasizing the wide open and exciting league that was to leave such an enormous and yet underappreciated impact on modern football. The AFL continues to be underrated by those either who lack historical perspective or perhaps who were beguiled by the early NFL pre-merger snobbery of the 1960's. Hopefully this fine book will put some of that attitude to rest, so that those like my father (Charlie Hennigan, Oilers '60-'66) who played in the AFL may get some of the recognition they deserve. Steve Hennigan, MD

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A seminal work and a highly recommended, December 14, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Remember the AFL: The Ultimate Fan's Guide to the American Football League (Paperback)

Football is America's single most viewed and popular sport. In 1959, eight wealthy businessmen who were unable to obtain or develop football franchises with the well-established National Football League (NFL) banded together to create a rival organization called the American Football League (AFL). During its limited lifetime the AFL gained the interest and loyalty of its fans but ultimately failed to survive in the corporate competition for revenue with the teams of the NFL. "Remember The AFL: the Ultimate Fan's Guide To The American Football League" is a superbly illustrated history that combines Dave Steidel's meticulous and exhaustive historical research with hundreds of period photographs (including many of the AFL related classic football cards and collectibles) to provide nostalgia with an overview of the rise and fall of the teams, players, managers, and owners of the AFL teams. Enhanced throughout with statics, trivia, anecdotal stories, and more, "Remember The AFL" is a seminal work and a highly recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library Sports & Athletic football history reference collections and supplemental reading lists.