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The End of Autumn: Reflections on My Life in Football
Much of Michael Oriard's education took place outside the schoolroom of his native Spokane, Washington, during "slaughter practices" on high school football fields. He was taught to "punish" and "dominate," to rouse his school spirit with religion, and to "tough it" through injuries, even serious ones. At the age of eighteen he entered Notre Dame and walked onto the football team, where studying hard was never harder. By his senior year, playing for Ara Parseghian's Fighting Irish, he was the starting center and co-captain of the team. After graduating, he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs and head coach Hank Stram. There he learned what it meant to be "owned." He rediscovered the game as it was played by grown men with families who were still treated like children and who dreaded nothing more than the end of their football careers. And without their fully realizing the consequences, every hard tackle inflicted its injury, some gradually growing into chronic conditions, some suddenly cutting a player's career short and ushering him off the field to be soon forgotten. In this thoughtful narrative, Oriard describes the dreams of glory, the game day anxieties, the brutal training camps and harsh practices, his starry-eyed experience at Notre Dame, and the cold-blooded business of professional football. Told from the inside, the book leaves aside the hype and the pathos of the game to present a direct and honest account of the personal rewards but also the costs players paid to make others rich and entertained. Originally published in 1982, The End of Autumn recounts the experiences of an ordinary player in a bygone era--before ESPN, before the Bowl Championship Series, before free agency and million-dollar salaries for NFL players. In a new afterword, Oriard reflects on the process of writing the book and how the game has changed in the thirty years since his "retirement" from football at the age of twenty-six.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 25, 2013
I had great expectations for this book - an English professor who played pro football! My kind of bloke.
At times this provided an interesting insight into the struggles of an aspiring high school, then college, then pro football player. It was in some sections incredibly visceral in its rendition of
moment to moment pain and exhilaration.
But on some points - like being a somewhat mistreated employee in the NFL, the difficulty players have adjusting to 'normal' life post football, and what it meant to be satisfied by his career... these were all worthy topics, but for 5 pages, not 30.
I was staggered that after several pages on the nerves leading up to his first high school and college games, he could more or less dismiss his entire first season with 'I only ended up playing in one game that year...'. What, only one game in the NFL, your first, in the highest league there is? How terribly disappointing and unmemorable that must have been for you.
However, some insightful - and perhaps in 1982 unpopular - commentary is here, with worthy emphasis on what becomes of the broken bodies of athletes whose courage has entertained the masses.
At times this provided an interesting insight into the struggles of an aspiring high school, then college, then pro football player. It was in some sections incredibly visceral in its rendition of
moment to moment pain and exhilaration.
But on some points - like being a somewhat mistreated employee in the NFL, the difficulty players have adjusting to 'normal' life post football, and what it meant to be satisfied by his career... these were all worthy topics, but for 5 pages, not 30.
I was staggered that after several pages on the nerves leading up to his first high school and college games, he could more or less dismiss his entire first season with 'I only ended up playing in one game that year...'. What, only one game in the NFL, your first, in the highest league there is? How terribly disappointing and unmemorable that must have been for you.
However, some insightful - and perhaps in 1982 unpopular - commentary is here, with worthy emphasis on what becomes of the broken bodies of athletes whose courage has entertained the masses.
February 26, 2012
Read my interview with the author here:
http://goodmenproject.com/featured-co...
Oriard's beautifully written autobiography has been unfairly forgotten since it appeared in 1982. Given how much better it is than such "true life" accounts as Jerry Kramer's Instant Replay or tell-alls like Dave Meggysesy's Out of Their League, it's puzzling that it doesn't still grace the shelves of the local chain bookstores (or even the inventory list of amazon.com). Oriard's life is not especially interesting, in and of itself: he had a happy childhood in Spokane, loved his father, made good grades, walked on at Notre Dame, earned second team All-American honors during his last year of college, got drafted by Chiefs, spent a few years as a backup while studying for the Ph.D. at Stanford, and then retired on his own terms after a successful season with Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL. What stands out about this work is the caliber of Oriard's prose, as it's unlikely that any athlete has ever written so moving and sophisticated a study of his years on the field (at least not that I've encountered, and I've read hundreds of such athlete autobiographies). Although one might desire a little more sex and drugs--as in Meggyesy's account, or Gary Shaw's, or Dave Kopay's--the End of Autumn seems true to Oriard's straight-arrow view of life. He was in the NFL but never of it, and this outsider status enabled him to produce a series of thoughtful meditations about "the end of toughness" (by criticizing, however gently, the madness of Sherill Headrick, who sacrificed his body on every play only to be cut unceremoniously by the Chiefs, and the foolishness of E.J. Holub, who hung in at the center position for the Chiefs for over a decade in spite of nine knee surgeries that eventually left him unable to walk), the lack of autonomy that the "owned" athlete feels (brought home to him by the arbitrary nature of Napeolonic coach Hank Stram's system of fines), and the tragedy of his All-Pro teammate Jim Tyrer (who, following a series of business failures after his football career had ended, killed his wife and then took his own life). The account of his final professional game with the Tiger-Cats that opens the book is a stunning set piece, and one that leaves the reader wondering why Oriard--who appears to have had a successful enough career in the English department at Oregon State--didn't wind up producing more writing for public consumption. Paul Zimmerman (who knew a thing or two about football) quoted liberally from this work in his New Thinking Man's Guide to Football, and it's easy to see why. This is a must-read for people who appreciate great sports literature.
http://goodmenproject.com/featured-co...
Oriard's beautifully written autobiography has been unfairly forgotten since it appeared in 1982. Given how much better it is than such "true life" accounts as Jerry Kramer's Instant Replay or tell-alls like Dave Meggysesy's Out of Their League, it's puzzling that it doesn't still grace the shelves of the local chain bookstores (or even the inventory list of amazon.com). Oriard's life is not especially interesting, in and of itself: he had a happy childhood in Spokane, loved his father, made good grades, walked on at Notre Dame, earned second team All-American honors during his last year of college, got drafted by Chiefs, spent a few years as a backup while studying for the Ph.D. at Stanford, and then retired on his own terms after a successful season with Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL. What stands out about this work is the caliber of Oriard's prose, as it's unlikely that any athlete has ever written so moving and sophisticated a study of his years on the field (at least not that I've encountered, and I've read hundreds of such athlete autobiographies). Although one might desire a little more sex and drugs--as in Meggyesy's account, or Gary Shaw's, or Dave Kopay's--the End of Autumn seems true to Oriard's straight-arrow view of life. He was in the NFL but never of it, and this outsider status enabled him to produce a series of thoughtful meditations about "the end of toughness" (by criticizing, however gently, the madness of Sherill Headrick, who sacrificed his body on every play only to be cut unceremoniously by the Chiefs, and the foolishness of E.J. Holub, who hung in at the center position for the Chiefs for over a decade in spite of nine knee surgeries that eventually left him unable to walk), the lack of autonomy that the "owned" athlete feels (brought home to him by the arbitrary nature of Napeolonic coach Hank Stram's system of fines), and the tragedy of his All-Pro teammate Jim Tyrer (who, following a series of business failures after his football career had ended, killed his wife and then took his own life). The account of his final professional game with the Tiger-Cats that opens the book is a stunning set piece, and one that leaves the reader wondering why Oriard--who appears to have had a successful enough career in the English department at Oregon State--didn't wind up producing more writing for public consumption. Paul Zimmerman (who knew a thing or two about football) quoted liberally from this work in his New Thinking Man's Guide to Football, and it's easy to see why. This is a must-read for people who appreciate great sports literature.
January 26, 2022
The End of Autumn is supposed to a different kind of sports book - a nonfiction account by a guy (Michael Oriard) who had an average career. After football, Oriard later earned his Ph.D. In English from Stanford before he became a professor at Oregon State. Therefore, I thought that the book might be particularly insightful.
Interlibrary loan found a copy of The End of Autumn for me. A pristine, hardback copy that appeared to have never been read arrived from the University of Montevallo.
The End of Autumn proved to be a good, quick read. Oriard opens with the close of his football career, a stint in the Canadian Football League in 1974. The time was important to Oriard because it allowed him to end his involvement in football on his own terms. The book then goes through Oriard’s life from his childhood in Spokane, Washington, to his college days at Notre Dame, and then to his time with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The book is good, but I thought that it would be better. There are so many accounts of life in football that the bar is pretty high. Oriard enjoyed his time playing football in high school and he had great respect for Notre Dame and for Coach Ara Parseghian.
Surprisingly, the parts of the book on his pro career are somewhat weak. Oriard did not repeat his previous successes. He was with the Chiefs from 1970 to 1974, but started just one game. While he made it to the highest level and stayed a while, he was never more than a middling pro.
Oriard does not provide much insight into his pro career. But he does focus a lot on the Chiefs’ Hall-of-Fame coach - Hank Stram. Oriard did not like Stram and often puts him down.
The book closes with Oriard’s reflections on his life in sports. I enjoyed reading the “Whatever happened to...?” section on his former teammates. The final section includes a long, sobering discussion of Jim Tyrer, the Chiefs’ star tackle who died an awful death.
In summary, I enjoyed The End of Autumn but I do not believe that the book’s contribution is particularly original.
Interlibrary loan found a copy of The End of Autumn for me. A pristine, hardback copy that appeared to have never been read arrived from the University of Montevallo.
The End of Autumn proved to be a good, quick read. Oriard opens with the close of his football career, a stint in the Canadian Football League in 1974. The time was important to Oriard because it allowed him to end his involvement in football on his own terms. The book then goes through Oriard’s life from his childhood in Spokane, Washington, to his college days at Notre Dame, and then to his time with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The book is good, but I thought that it would be better. There are so many accounts of life in football that the bar is pretty high. Oriard enjoyed his time playing football in high school and he had great respect for Notre Dame and for Coach Ara Parseghian.
Surprisingly, the parts of the book on his pro career are somewhat weak. Oriard did not repeat his previous successes. He was with the Chiefs from 1970 to 1974, but started just one game. While he made it to the highest level and stayed a while, he was never more than a middling pro.
Oriard does not provide much insight into his pro career. But he does focus a lot on the Chiefs’ Hall-of-Fame coach - Hank Stram. Oriard did not like Stram and often puts him down.
The book closes with Oriard’s reflections on his life in sports. I enjoyed reading the “Whatever happened to...?” section on his former teammates. The final section includes a long, sobering discussion of Jim Tyrer, the Chiefs’ star tackle who died an awful death.
In summary, I enjoyed The End of Autumn but I do not believe that the book’s contribution is particularly original.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews