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All the Moves I Had: A Football Life
Pro Football Hall of Famer Raymond Berry is a true giant of the game. He lacked blazing speed or imposing size, yet he revolutionized the wide receiver position; starred in football’s “Greatest Game Ever Played,” the 1958 NFL Championship; and was part of football’s most legendary pass-catch combination with his quarterback and friend Johnny Unitas. Football wouldn’t be what it is today without “Unitas to Berry.”
In All the Moves I Had, Berry brings readers inside a football career that spanned four decades and featured a Who’s Who of the NFL. As a receiver for the Baltimore Colts of the 1950s and 1960s, he nearly scientifically developed an inventory of moves and fakes to get open, and intensely studied defensive backs and their coverage techniques—pioneering these integral parts of today’s passing-game preparation. In this book he breaks down, play-by-play, his historic performance in the contest that secured pro football’s popularity—the 1958 final that was the NFL’s first to end in overtime and first to be nationally televised. He recounts coaching for the Dallas Cowboys and head coaching the New England Patriots, a team he took to the Super Bowl. One of today’s senior members of Pro Football Hall of Fame, Raymond Berry is a national treasure of football history, strategy, technique, and—just as important—friendship, family, love, and faith.
“He was his own man. He was poised, as though he had pondered everything a little harder than anyone else. . . . He was deconstructing and reinventing the position of wide receiver.” —Mark Bowden in The Best Game Ever
“He didn’t play a game of football, he engineered it.”—legendary Los Angeles Times sportswriter Jim Murray
“The best.” —Johnny Unitas
In All the Moves I Had, Berry brings readers inside a football career that spanned four decades and featured a Who’s Who of the NFL. As a receiver for the Baltimore Colts of the 1950s and 1960s, he nearly scientifically developed an inventory of moves and fakes to get open, and intensely studied defensive backs and their coverage techniques—pioneering these integral parts of today’s passing-game preparation. In this book he breaks down, play-by-play, his historic performance in the contest that secured pro football’s popularity—the 1958 final that was the NFL’s first to end in overtime and first to be nationally televised. He recounts coaching for the Dallas Cowboys and head coaching the New England Patriots, a team he took to the Super Bowl. One of today’s senior members of Pro Football Hall of Fame, Raymond Berry is a national treasure of football history, strategy, technique, and—just as important—friendship, family, love, and faith.
“He was his own man. He was poised, as though he had pondered everything a little harder than anyone else. . . . He was deconstructing and reinventing the position of wide receiver.” —Mark Bowden in The Best Game Ever
“He didn’t play a game of football, he engineered it.”—legendary Los Angeles Times sportswriter Jim Murray
“The best.” —Johnny Unitas
248 pages, Hardcover
Published August 1, 2016
3 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
Raymond Berry
16 books2 followersRaymond Berry is a writer, poet, and educator. His poetry is published in Warpland: A Journal of Black Literature and Ideas and the Amandla Literary Journal. He earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Chicago State University. His manuscript, Diagnosis, was selected as a semi-finalist in the Seventh Annual Elixir Press Poetry Awards. Berry, a native of Chicago, is at work on a new poetry collection entitled Fire of My Breath.
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October 23, 2018
I grew up a Baltimore Colts fan, following the exploits of John Unitas, Gino Marchetti, Lenny Moore, and so many other greats. Certainly near the top of the list of the greatest was Raymond Berry. As a pass receiver, there was none better. Unitas to Berry was a call we loved to hear and did hear more than five hundred times in Berry's thirteen year career.
Because of this, I really wanted to like this book and I do, but not as much as I thought I would. The soft-spoken, studious-looking Hall of Famer is not the writer he appears to be, and Wayne Stewart gives him no help. Indeed, his appearance is purely superfluous. Sports fans covet accuracy and Berry-Stewart fails in this category. Bob Hayes' Olympic feats are mentioned but with the wrong Olympic year. The Colts were members of the Western Conference of the NFL, not the Western Division. This may be nitpicking but this is like hearing fingernails scratching a blackboard. Berry overused surnames without given names; rarely did he refer to John Unitas using both names. He often made a point and later repeated it as if it had not been mentioned before. In writing about teammates or players he played against, the repetition of phrases was irritating.
I would have liked to have read more about Berry's Colts teammates. It has been said that the Baltimore Colts were America's Team before the Dallas Cowboys claimed the title. More could have been written about those teams.
Three stars
Because of this, I really wanted to like this book and I do, but not as much as I thought I would. The soft-spoken, studious-looking Hall of Famer is not the writer he appears to be, and Wayne Stewart gives him no help. Indeed, his appearance is purely superfluous. Sports fans covet accuracy and Berry-Stewart fails in this category. Bob Hayes' Olympic feats are mentioned but with the wrong Olympic year. The Colts were members of the Western Conference of the NFL, not the Western Division. This may be nitpicking but this is like hearing fingernails scratching a blackboard. Berry overused surnames without given names; rarely did he refer to John Unitas using both names. He often made a point and later repeated it as if it had not been mentioned before. In writing about teammates or players he played against, the repetition of phrases was irritating.
I would have liked to have read more about Berry's Colts teammates. It has been said that the Baltimore Colts were America's Team before the Dallas Cowboys claimed the title. More could have been written about those teams.
Three stars
March 17, 2024
“All The Moves I Had” (2016©) — book review
Today’s book review is for “All The Moves I Had”, an autobiography about the life of Raymond Berry and was co-written by Wayne Stewart. This is the second book review of a trio of “Colts” books I purchased at the end of last year / start of this year. Back in the 1960s, there were two “givens” in the world of the National Football League (NFL). The first was that Jim Brown was the greatest running back to ever carry a football. The second – and some would argue this should be the first – was that Johnny Unitas was the greatest quarterback to ever throw a football. The author: Raymond Berry was Johnny U’s favorite target.
This book covers the life, times, experiences and testimony of a man who developed himself from a boy in Texas to an NFL Hall of Fame pass receiver through hard work, focus and single-minded determination. Unlike most autobiographers, Berry doesn’t claim he did it all by himself. He says (repeatedly) he had a few gifts, but mostly, it was luck and “God’s blessings” which got him where he got to in life.
So, is this book any good? Is it realistic in it’s narration of football preparation / training and / or game depictions? Is it entertaining and / or interesting? And, finally, do I recommend this book? Yes to all of the above.
Any good: The book is told as a first-person narrative . Duh – it’s an autobiography. Berry is kind of the philosophical polar opposite of Ayn Rand… He says: “Yeah, I worked hard. But I had a lot of things break my way. That’s why I ended up famous.” Berry ultimately attributes a good chunk of this “luck” to God’s graces. He devotes an entire chapter to his “born-again” faith. Having said that, the book is more about personal and moral character than it is about religious faith. I found both aspects of his story to be appealing.
Realism, characters and historic depictions: Berry covers each step in his path to becoming a football player, pass catcher and (later) coach. He provides descriptions of high school, college and professional games. He frequently provides details which offer insight into why things happened (from his perspective) and not just “what” happened. I found a lot of interesting tidbits of information about his teammates, his opponents and his philosophy of playing sports (not just football). It is amazing to me that now, thanks to modern technology, we can actually see these players and their achievements in a way we were never able to view them before. If I had one negative comment about the book, it would be Berry almost NEVER has anything bad to say about anyone he actually names. If their name appears, it’s a compliment. If there’s no name, then it’s not.
As for realism, the descriptions of the long term physical toll the sport has on the participants was strikingly honest. Berry even discusses the issue of “CTE” (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). Berry puts it down to poor sportsmanship and poor coaching – both of which are tolerated by the League. Berry spends a few pages explaining that at one time, there were no face guards and nobody led with their heads on blocking or tackling. Berry feels the game can still be great even without the head trauma. That is, if the League really wanted to make the game safer for players, they could. Another observation I found resonance with was Berry’s opinion that we can’t / shouldn’t compare players from various eras because the game is so different now. His example is the time span for pass release in today’s game is almost twice (if not more) than it was in his player days. In addition to giving receivers time to get farther down field, it also gives quarterbacks more time to circuit through their options to find the open receiver. Berry feels the quarterbacks today are rarely as good as before because there is little to no expectation a quarterback will accurately read a defense between the huddle and the walk-up to the line of scrimmage. That’s why the QB needs the extra time during the play – to decide where to throw the ball to.
Entertaining / interesting: I found the book more interesting than entertaining. I’m not sure why, but I didn’t get a sense of watching NFL Films (entertainment) from Berry’s writing. It was more a sense of being in a history class and watching the teacher draw arrows on battlefield maps kind of feeling. I don’t know if that was a matter of writing style or just an attitude of mine towards the things being described. From Berry’s stories of training all year-round, to practicing catching (to develop timing) with the quarterback after “official” training was over, to explaining why some coaches seem to do better than others… there were a host of ideas to be gleaned from this book. One particular “technique” struck me: Berry says he attributes his long career (and lack of serious injury) to “floating”. He would leave the ground, catch, tuck and then explode out of his landing. Berry says he feels too many receivers are injured because one or both of their feet are planted when they are first hit / tackled. He claims he was bounced around quite a bit, but he rarely had his ankles, knees or hips exposed to extreme flexing by not being locked to the ground by his cleats when initially hit in the act of catching.
Final recommendation: Strong recommendation. IMHO this book is better than the “Johnny U.” biography I read / reviewed previously. Reading this book, it’s clear why many sports writer’s felt Berry changed both offensive football and the concept of being a wide receiver into what we think of in today’s game. The “Johnny U” book was more of the NFL Films type of book. I’ve enjoyed them both; just for different reasons.
Disclaimer: I purchased this book at normal / full price (for a used book in “good” condition) through Amazon and no compensation has been provided to me by anyone for my opinions in this review.
Today’s book review is for “All The Moves I Had”, an autobiography about the life of Raymond Berry and was co-written by Wayne Stewart. This is the second book review of a trio of “Colts” books I purchased at the end of last year / start of this year. Back in the 1960s, there were two “givens” in the world of the National Football League (NFL). The first was that Jim Brown was the greatest running back to ever carry a football. The second – and some would argue this should be the first – was that Johnny Unitas was the greatest quarterback to ever throw a football. The author: Raymond Berry was Johnny U’s favorite target.
This book covers the life, times, experiences and testimony of a man who developed himself from a boy in Texas to an NFL Hall of Fame pass receiver through hard work, focus and single-minded determination. Unlike most autobiographers, Berry doesn’t claim he did it all by himself. He says (repeatedly) he had a few gifts, but mostly, it was luck and “God’s blessings” which got him where he got to in life.
So, is this book any good? Is it realistic in it’s narration of football preparation / training and / or game depictions? Is it entertaining and / or interesting? And, finally, do I recommend this book? Yes to all of the above.
Any good: The book is told as a first-person narrative . Duh – it’s an autobiography. Berry is kind of the philosophical polar opposite of Ayn Rand… He says: “Yeah, I worked hard. But I had a lot of things break my way. That’s why I ended up famous.” Berry ultimately attributes a good chunk of this “luck” to God’s graces. He devotes an entire chapter to his “born-again” faith. Having said that, the book is more about personal and moral character than it is about religious faith. I found both aspects of his story to be appealing.
Realism, characters and historic depictions: Berry covers each step in his path to becoming a football player, pass catcher and (later) coach. He provides descriptions of high school, college and professional games. He frequently provides details which offer insight into why things happened (from his perspective) and not just “what” happened. I found a lot of interesting tidbits of information about his teammates, his opponents and his philosophy of playing sports (not just football). It is amazing to me that now, thanks to modern technology, we can actually see these players and their achievements in a way we were never able to view them before. If I had one negative comment about the book, it would be Berry almost NEVER has anything bad to say about anyone he actually names. If their name appears, it’s a compliment. If there’s no name, then it’s not.
As for realism, the descriptions of the long term physical toll the sport has on the participants was strikingly honest. Berry even discusses the issue of “CTE” (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). Berry puts it down to poor sportsmanship and poor coaching – both of which are tolerated by the League. Berry spends a few pages explaining that at one time, there were no face guards and nobody led with their heads on blocking or tackling. Berry feels the game can still be great even without the head trauma. That is, if the League really wanted to make the game safer for players, they could. Another observation I found resonance with was Berry’s opinion that we can’t / shouldn’t compare players from various eras because the game is so different now. His example is the time span for pass release in today’s game is almost twice (if not more) than it was in his player days. In addition to giving receivers time to get farther down field, it also gives quarterbacks more time to circuit through their options to find the open receiver. Berry feels the quarterbacks today are rarely as good as before because there is little to no expectation a quarterback will accurately read a defense between the huddle and the walk-up to the line of scrimmage. That’s why the QB needs the extra time during the play – to decide where to throw the ball to.
Entertaining / interesting: I found the book more interesting than entertaining. I’m not sure why, but I didn’t get a sense of watching NFL Films (entertainment) from Berry’s writing. It was more a sense of being in a history class and watching the teacher draw arrows on battlefield maps kind of feeling. I don’t know if that was a matter of writing style or just an attitude of mine towards the things being described. From Berry’s stories of training all year-round, to practicing catching (to develop timing) with the quarterback after “official” training was over, to explaining why some coaches seem to do better than others… there were a host of ideas to be gleaned from this book. One particular “technique” struck me: Berry says he attributes his long career (and lack of serious injury) to “floating”. He would leave the ground, catch, tuck and then explode out of his landing. Berry says he feels too many receivers are injured because one or both of their feet are planted when they are first hit / tackled. He claims he was bounced around quite a bit, but he rarely had his ankles, knees or hips exposed to extreme flexing by not being locked to the ground by his cleats when initially hit in the act of catching.
Final recommendation: Strong recommendation. IMHO this book is better than the “Johnny U.” biography I read / reviewed previously. Reading this book, it’s clear why many sports writer’s felt Berry changed both offensive football and the concept of being a wide receiver into what we think of in today’s game. The “Johnny U” book was more of the NFL Films type of book. I’ve enjoyed them both; just for different reasons.
Disclaimer: I purchased this book at normal / full price (for a used book in “good” condition) through Amazon and no compensation has been provided to me by anyone for my opinions in this review.
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