Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood [Hardcover]

Jeffrey Marx (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 24, 2004

Joe Ehrmann, a former NFL football star and volunteer coach for the Gilman high school football team, teaches his players the keys to successful defense: penetrate, pursue, punish, love. Love? A former captain of the Baltimore Colts and now an ordained minister, Ehrmann is serious about the game of football but even more serious about the purpose of life. Season of Life is his inspirational story as told by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jeffrey Marx, who was a ballboy for the Colts when he first met Ehrmann.

Ehrmann now devotes his life to teaching young men a whole new meaning of masculinity. He teaches the boys at Gilman the precepts of his Building Men for Others program: Being a man means emphasizing relationships and having a cause bigger than yourself. It means accepting responsibility and leading courageously. It means that empathy, integrity, and living a life of service to others are more important than points on a scoreboard.

Decades after he first met Ehrmann, Jeffrey Marx renewed their friendship and watched his childhood hero putting his principles into action. While chronicling a season with the Gilman Greyhounds, Marx witnessed the most extraordinary sports program he'd ever seen, where players say "I love you" to each other and coaches profess their love for their players. Off the field Marx sat with Ehrmann and absorbed life lessons that led him to reexamine his own unresolved relationship with his father.

Season of Life is a book about what it means to be a man of substance and impact. It is a moving story that will resonate with athletes, coaches, parents -- anyone struggling to make the right choices in life.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

When Pulitzer-winning investigative reporter Marx was a kid in the 1970s, he was a ballboy for the Baltimore Colts. One of the team captains was Joe Ehrmann, a larger-than-life party guy and star defensive lineman. After the death of his younger brother, Ehrmann changed his life, working in Baltimore's inner city and eventually becoming an ordained minister. Prompted by an article about the demolition of the Colt's legendary Memorial Stadium, Marx reconnected with Ehrmann and became fascinated both with his ministry and his work as a volunteer football coach at a Baltimore private school. This account of Ehrmann's career--and his effect on Marx's life--is inspirational without being preachy. Most amazing are the stories of the team Ehrmann coaches--a football team on which life lessons are more important than tackling fundamentals. The lessons extend to Marx himself, who describes how he was moved by Ehrmann's example to work on his relationship with his father. A sports story, yes, but much more, too. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated Jeffrey Marx has used the most violent of American games to show how men and boys should dare not be afraid to look for love. I was tremendously touched by Season of Life.

Christine Brennan, USA Today In a warm, passionate story, Jeffrey Marx finds a boyhood hero who ends up leading him on a fascinating personal journey. This is a book that every father and son will enjoy.

Carl Lewis, Olympic champion Season of Life should be required reading for every high school student in America and every parent as well.

Ronnie Lott, NFL Hall of Famer This is not a book you are just going to read and then forget about. You're probably going to read it again sometime. And you'll definitely want to tell family and friends about it. By sharing Season of Life with others, you will be helping to make this a better world.

Steve Moulton, ESPN Radio This is a life-changing book. You'd have to be a slug on a rock not to be impacted by the messages in this book.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1ST edition (August 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743269748
• ISBN-13: 978-0743269742
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (111 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Football (American)
  • #25 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Spirituality > Inspirational

More About the Author

Jeffrey Marx won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He has also written for numerous publications, including Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, Time, and The Washington Post. He lives in Washington, D.C. For more information visit his website at www.seasonoflife.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Boys to Men January 2, 2005

By Michael DENNISUK VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR!! There may not be a more importat issue in todays society. We often talk about how athletics is an important training ground for life. It has been never been better demonstrated than by these coaches and this writer. Mr. Marx follows one season of a very special high school football team and the life lessons the team's coaches impart to their athlete's. This book is special. It should be read by every coach , parent and athlete.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Relationships and boys into men August 13, 2004

By Tommy S.

Format:Hardcover

When I first approached this book, I had the initial impression that it would be just another banal "feel-good" book about football. As I began to read the book and reflect upon "Rev. Joe's" messages, I found myself frantically flipping back pages to reread a passage, or see that quote just one more time. What began as a quick afternoon read, developed into a multi-day affair of taking notes, rereading, and reflecting! The format of the book is deceivingly simple; Mr. Marx is able to convey the warm camaraderie of the Gilman Football team in a very moving, very honest lesson about what it means to love and to be compassionate. Far from being commonplace, the powerful lessons of this book will sit well with young men, people struggling in difficult times, or anyone hoping to read an inspiring story.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You don't have to love football to love this book! August 5, 2005

By Blaine Greenfield

Format:Hardcover

Loved SEASON OF LIFE by Jeffrey

Marx . . . it is the author's account of the Gilman High School

football team that is unlike any sports book that I've ever read,

in that it is more about how Gilman's coaches use the game

to teach such principles as love, empathy, integrity and living

a life of service.

The 2001 Gilman Greyhounds did not go undefeated; in fact,

they barely had a winning season (having previously been one

of the top teams in the country) . . . however, their record

was never the important thing.

As the head coach noted when a mother asked him how successful

did he think the boys were going to be, he replied, "I have no

idea. . . . I won't really know how successful they're gonna be till they

come back to visit in twenty years. . . . Then I'll be able to

see what kind of husbands they are. I'll be able to see what kind

of fathers they are. I'll see what they're doing in the community."

Marx often quotes Joe Ehrmann, a former NFL football star and

volunteer Gilman coach . . . now also an ordained minister, Ehrman

devotes his life to teaching the Gilman team the precept of

his Building Men for Others program: Being a man means

emphasizing relationships and having a cause bigger than

yourself. It means accepting responsibility and leading

courageously. In addition, it means players saying "I love you"

to each other and coaches professing their love for their players.

There were several memorable passages; among them:

* [Erhmann] "And I think the second criterion-the only other criterion

for masculinity--Is that all of us ought to have some kind of cause,

some kind of purpose in our lives that's bigger than our own individual

hopes, dreams, wants, and desires. At the end of our life, we ought

to be able to look back over it from our deathbed and know that

somehow the world was a better place because we lived, we loved,

we were other-centered, other-focused."

* "I expect greatness out of you," Biff [Poggi, the head coach] once

told the boys. "And the way we measure greatness is the impact

you make on other people's lives."

* Ultimately, Biff said, the boys would make the greatest overall impact

on the world-would bring the most love and grace and healing to

people-by constantly basing their thoughts and actions on one simple

question: What can I do for you? . . .

"Because in case you haven't noticed yet, we're training you to be

different," Biff said. "If we lose every game of the year, go oh-and-ten

on the football field, as long as we try hard, I don't care. You learn

these lessons, and we're ten-and-oh in the game of life."

Toward the end of the book, there's a thrilling account of Gilman's

last game of the year . . . yet I was even more moved by the

author's last chapter . . . at the conclusion of the season, he visited

his father and took some of the lessons that he had learned during

the season to help revitalize that relationship.