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Leatherheads of the North: The True Story of Ernie Nevers & the Duluth Eskimos
Written by Duluth News Tribune columnist Chuck Frederick, Leatherheads of the North tells the fascinating story of Ernie Nevers and the Duluth Eskimos, the team NFL president Joe Carr said saved the NFL and legendary Chicago Bears coach George Halas called the greatest football team ever put together. Frederick takes readers down on the field, inside the locker room, and outside the stadium to share the teams notorious on and off the field exploits, from the early years sponsored by Kelley-Duluth Hardware through their storied 1926-1927 barnstorming season and beyond.
- GenresFootballNonfictionSports
163 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 30, 2015
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 4.25 of 5
If you pick up this book because it was the inspiration for the George Clooney movie, Leatherheads, you might be disappointed (depending, I suppose, on how much you liked the movie). But if you choose to pick up this book because you are interested in history, or football, or even the sociology of 'entertainment/sports' through history, then this is a must read for you.
I first became interested in this after visiting the Football Hall of Fame and seeing the display for the Duluth Eskimos. I wasn't aware, at the time, that there had been such a team, and with a strong connection to Duluth (immediate family having lived and currently living there), I was instantly intrigued and looking for more information about the team. Fortunately, I came across this book.
Professional football has not always been the high-priced, high visibility entertainment that is it today. When the Duluth Eskimos were a professional football team, during the 1920's, football was a diversion for some and the players not only weren't always paid, depending on the gate receipts, they sometimes paid their own way to out-of-town games. There also wasn't the organization, or the oversight, that there is today. Not all teams had similar schedules. In 1922,
Four games. Nine games. Twelve games. It was no wonder that at least once two different teams both claimed to be the league champions (this was LONG before the Super Bowl).
Just the amount of football history that is packed in this little book is amazing, but the detail of the Duluth Eskimos and their star, Ernie Nevers, is tremendous. Much of the information comes down through stories told by team members, many years after the fact, and sometimes as told by descendants of the original players, so one has to take the stories with a little bit of a grain of salt, but even so, we are talking about an era when rugged men played football with leather helmets and ran into one another like long-horned rams.
Although the perspective may be a bit skewed, it was fascinating to read about how Ernie Nevers and the Duluth Eskimos may have saved the National Football League, and how the Eskimos, being so far north had a hard time getting other teams to travel to play them and how they spent nearly an entire season playing on the road. ("Played 13 regular-season games and 16 non-league games in 4 months -- but played at home only once.")
The Eskimos were the first team to hold a pre-season training camp, and to feature a team logo on their uniforms. In today's era, it's hard to fathom that either of these were not regularly done!
I really enjoyed this book, mostly from a history point of view, but getting a sense of football when it wasn't played for the money (or even, necessarily for the fame) was also quite enjoyable.
Looking for a good book? History, Minnesota History, sports history, or football fans will appreciate this well researched and thoughtful look back at a professional football team that most have never known about, but sent three members of its squad to the Hall of Fame and possibly kept the sport of football alive during some tumultuous years.
If you pick up this book because it was the inspiration for the George Clooney movie, Leatherheads, you might be disappointed (depending, I suppose, on how much you liked the movie). But if you choose to pick up this book because you are interested in history, or football, or even the sociology of 'entertainment/sports' through history, then this is a must read for you.
I first became interested in this after visiting the Football Hall of Fame and seeing the display for the Duluth Eskimos. I wasn't aware, at the time, that there had been such a team, and with a strong connection to Duluth (immediate family having lived and currently living there), I was instantly intrigued and looking for more information about the team. Fortunately, I came across this book.
Professional football has not always been the high-priced, high visibility entertainment that is it today. When the Duluth Eskimos were a professional football team, during the 1920's, football was a diversion for some and the players not only weren't always paid, depending on the gate receipts, they sometimes paid their own way to out-of-town games. There also wasn't the organization, or the oversight, that there is today. Not all teams had similar schedules. In 1922,
The Canton Bulldogs won the league championship...finishing undefeated with ten wins and two ties. ... The Bears finished second with nine wins and three losses. The Packers were eighth with four wins, three losses, and three ties. Wisconsin's other team, the Milwaukee Badgers, were in eleventh place with two wins, four losses, and three ties. And Minnesota's team, the Minneapolis Marines, finished thirteenth with one win and three losses.
Four games. Nine games. Twelve games. It was no wonder that at least once two different teams both claimed to be the league champions (this was LONG before the Super Bowl).
Just the amount of football history that is packed in this little book is amazing, but the detail of the Duluth Eskimos and their star, Ernie Nevers, is tremendous. Much of the information comes down through stories told by team members, many years after the fact, and sometimes as told by descendants of the original players, so one has to take the stories with a little bit of a grain of salt, but even so, we are talking about an era when rugged men played football with leather helmets and ran into one another like long-horned rams.
Although the perspective may be a bit skewed, it was fascinating to read about how Ernie Nevers and the Duluth Eskimos may have saved the National Football League, and how the Eskimos, being so far north had a hard time getting other teams to travel to play them and how they spent nearly an entire season playing on the road. ("Played 13 regular-season games and 16 non-league games in 4 months -- but played at home only once.")
The Eskimos were the first team to hold a pre-season training camp, and to feature a team logo on their uniforms. In today's era, it's hard to fathom that either of these were not regularly done!
I really enjoyed this book, mostly from a history point of view, but getting a sense of football when it wasn't played for the money (or even, necessarily for the fame) was also quite enjoyable.
Looking for a good book? History, Minnesota History, sports history, or football fans will appreciate this well researched and thoughtful look back at a professional football team that most have never known about, but sent three members of its squad to the Hall of Fame and possibly kept the sport of football alive during some tumultuous years.
November 4, 2020
The story of the Duluth Eskimos is a remarkable one, and worth learning about. The incredible road trip, the Hall of Fame talent, the infectious personalities, and the relief they provided the NFL by snatching Nevers from the jaws of the AFL are all incredibly tantalizing. If you are a fan of pro football, you will like this book. Extra points if you are from the Minnesota or Wisconsin areas, as the book have so many hometown ties.
That said, if you are not a fan of football, I imagine much of this book will be difficult to get through. The language used is often dry and very factual. Most of the colorful language is borrowed by the author from the fantastical sports journalists of the time. The book begins with the author explaining that he will not go too far into the myths and urban legends associated with the Eskimos, and will focus on the facts. I left the book thinking that the tales of Johnny Blood’s antics and Never’s heroics were the highlight, and I wished he would have spent more time highlighting these events.
All in all, I’m glad I picked this one up. It was a quick read, and not only gives a neat history of the team that was in Duluth, but a glimpse into the advent of the National Football League as a whole.
That said, if you are not a fan of football, I imagine much of this book will be difficult to get through. The language used is often dry and very factual. Most of the colorful language is borrowed by the author from the fantastical sports journalists of the time. The book begins with the author explaining that he will not go too far into the myths and urban legends associated with the Eskimos, and will focus on the facts. I left the book thinking that the tales of Johnny Blood’s antics and Never’s heroics were the highlight, and I wished he would have spent more time highlighting these events.
All in all, I’m glad I picked this one up. It was a quick read, and not only gives a neat history of the team that was in Duluth, but a glimpse into the advent of the National Football League as a whole.
August 14, 2008
The George Clooney movie "Leatherheads" was based on this true story of the nascent days of pro football. I'm as much a football historian as I am a fan, so I love stories like this. It's hard to look at the billion-dollar industry the NFL has become and imagine that it once existed as a minor diversion in small Midwestern cities -- places like Green Bay were once the rule, not the exception -- while most people looked at it scornfully and didn't even consider it a "real" sport. College ball was king in those days. Teams struggled to scrape up enough ticket revenue to even pay the players back then. If it weren't for hotshot former college players like Ernie Nevers (and Red Grange, and Johnny Blood) coming along to give pro ball some credibility, the NFL may never have survived. That's the premise of this book, and it's a convincing story, even if the narration is kind of bland, relying on a recitation of the facts and figures from each season more than on colorful anecdotes about the fascinating characters who played ball in those days. That's the only failing of this book, but it's still a compelling peek into the pioneering era of pro football in America.
March 23, 2011
This is one of those books that I really didn't think I would like when I first picked it up. After all, how interesting can football in the 1920s really get??
Oh was I wrong! While the football game summaries get a bit confusing (the game was played dramatically different then), there is a lot of intrigue into the life of Ole Haugsrud, a man who deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Ernie Nevers and the rest of this vagabond team.
If you are interested in the early days of the NFL, this is a good starting place.
Oh was I wrong! While the football game summaries get a bit confusing (the game was played dramatically different then), there is a lot of intrigue into the life of Ole Haugsrud, a man who deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Ernie Nevers and the rest of this vagabond team.
If you are interested in the early days of the NFL, this is a good starting place.
January 15, 2008
I good history of the early NFL. The George Clooney movie set for April '08 release looks like a bad adaptation of the Eskimo's story.
Currently reading
January 31, 2008Still a work in progress, this is a very good read for local Duluth-ians interested in local sports history and/or the history of early professional football.
June 4, 2012
lots of boring game recaps, but the in between stories are priceless.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews