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Cover image of When the Colts Belonged to Baltimore
Cover image of When the Colts Belonged to Baltimore
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When the Colts Belonged to Baltimore

A Father and a Son, a Team and a Time

William Gildea

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In this personal and moving book, William Gildea blends reminiscences of his boyhood in Baltimore with profiles of famous Colts players such as Johnny Unitas, Lenny Moore, Gino Marchetti, Raymond Berry, Art Donovan, Y. A. Tittle, and others. Recalling his relationship with his father and the love they shared for a team, Gildea evokes the spirit of 1950s America, when professional athletes were workaday neighbors and community was more than a political slogan. This is a story, too, about the geography of the heart: why something so simple as a team can arouse such emotional attachments, how a...

In this personal and moving book, William Gildea blends reminiscences of his boyhood in Baltimore with profiles of famous Colts players such as Johnny Unitas, Lenny Moore, Gino Marchetti, Raymond Berry, Art Donovan, Y. A. Tittle, and others. Recalling his relationship with his father and the love they shared for a team, Gildea evokes the spirit of 1950s America, when professional athletes were workaday neighbors and community was more than a political slogan. This is a story, too, about the geography of the heart: why something so simple as a team can arouse such emotional attachments, how a group of players with horseshoes on their helmets could have been part of the generational glue between parent and child. Written with feeling and insight, this is an affecting tribute to a team and a time etched in memory.

Reviews

Reviews

Mr. Gildea's book is at once an elegy and a eulogy... In this volume, every word is from the heart.

When the Colts Belonged to Baltimore is more than just a sports compendium. It is a hymn, or perhaps an old fight song, for a city, a childhood, a whole simpler way of life that is gone from America as the Colts are gone from Baltimore.

If you're looking for the sweetest, most nostalgic football book in a long time, check out When the Colts Belonged to Baltimore..

William Gildea's When the Colts Belonged to Baltimore is to football what Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer was to baseball. It's one of the best reads in a long, long time and should be a best seller.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
5.5
x
8.25
Pages
320
ISBN
9780801853791
Illustration Description
26 b&w illus.
Author Bio
Featured Contributor

William Gildea

William Gildea is a sportswriter for the Washington Post. He and his wife, Mary Fran, parents of four, live in Bethesda, Maryland.