Way We Played the Game: A True Story of One Team and the Dawning of American Football FROM THE PUBLISHER
Football in 1903 was vastly different from the slick spectacle we watch every Sunday afternoon on TV in the fall. It was a brutal, nonstop war fought by young men and boys on muddy high school and college fields across America. Bloody faces, broken bones, concussions and the shockingly high risk of death were the main attraction for hometown fans. The level of violence nearly got the sport banned in 1902, were it not for the intervention of President Teddy Roosevelt.
In a well-researched true story, we learn how Coach Clayton Teetzel introduces the modern concepts of speed, intelligence and strategy to this brawlersﾽ game, and also instills character in his players. Creatively told in the voice of Fletcher Van Horn, the unlikely quarterback of his high-school football team, this inspiring story depicts the down-and-dirty details of how early football was played. At the same time, the culture of small-town life in turn-of-the-century America is displayed with unabashed honestyﾽthe hopes, dreams and harsh realities of a community who pulled together while rooting for their team.
The story of how an undersized high school sophomore leads his team to victory is a classic tale of overcoming adversity and the triumph of the underdog. It is also a unique and masterfully told account of a time and a game few knowﾽwith tremendous appeal to both sports fans and history buffs. As Friday Night Lights did for modern high-school football, The Way We Played the Game establishes itself as the classic account of footballﾽs crude beginnings.
About the Author: John Armstrong is an architect and frequent contributor of nonfiction to Michigan History Magazine. He lives in St. Joseph, Michigan.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Armstrong deserves full marks for creative effort in his attempt at telling the story of the Benton Harbor (Mich.) High School football team's 1903 season and at evoking the spirit of American football in its nascent form. In the prologue, he stages the book as an ostensible manuscript by the team's quarterback, Fletcher Van Horn, whose memoir about the team, written in his old age, was discovered after moldering in a church basement for three decades. Unfortunately, this construction, like so much of the story that follows, seems a little too transparent and contrived. The action centers on Benton Harbor's quest to exact revenge on a bunch of fast, physical players from a northern Michigan high school who beat them for the state title perhaps unfairly the year before. Enter disciplined, strategizing Coach Clayton Teetzel, who is hired to help the team on its mission, and the stage is set for a clash between the "thinking man's game" and superior skill. Added to the mix is Van Horne, the scrawny, unlikely hero with a lot of moxie, who takes over as Benton Harbor's quarterback. The problem for Armstrong (an architect and contributor to Michigan History Magazine), in his first book, is that his premise presents many of the issues of a novel, yet the drama is flat and predictable, and several characters, like the hawker Colonel Eastman or the antifootball crusader Miss Fitzgerald, are obvious catchalls for certain period details. The book does, however, give readers a sense of a changing game whose brutality put it in serious danger of being outlawed. (Sept.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Like the college game, high school football 100 years ago was brutal and undisciplined. Telling the story of the Benton Harbor high school team of 1903, Armstrong uses the voice of one player, Fletcher van Horne, to relate an epic tale of how new coach Clayton Teetzel molded the team into a successful, rule-respecting combine. Overcoming injuries, bitter rivalries, and other problems, the team fought on to the state title game. Armstrong, who frequently writes for Michigan History magazine, weaves jumbled scores, changed names, and a fictitious romance between the coach and an anti-football teacher into the authentic story. The result is a brisk picture of the game in an earlier era that many public libraries can use. Morey Berger, St. Joseph's Hosp. Lib., Tuscon, AZ
Kirkus Reviews
Trickster Armstrong debuts by pretending (unfortunately) that his reconstruction of a Michigan high schoolﾽs 1903 football season is the actual memoir by the team's quarterback. In the prologue, Armstrong claims that Fletcher Van Horne wrote this account of his glory days as Benton Harbor Highﾽs starting quarterback after a history teacher who heard him speak at a local Elkﾽs Club in 1965 encouraged him to set down his recollections on paper. In a closing "Note from the Author," Armstrong admits the story of the manuscript is mumbo jumbo; he fashioned the story from local newspaper clippings collected by his grandmother and from his own research into turn-of-the-century football. This last-minute switch in perspective reveals an amateurish personal memoir to be in fact a lame and tiresome con job. Fletcher Van Horne and Benson Harbor head coach Clayton Teetzel appear to be real people. A sophomore in 1903, the small and thin Van Horne plays with great passion, leads the team to victories, overcomes injury, and wins the big game with fortitude and bravery. A University of Michigan graduate trained in Fielding Yost's style of hurry-up offence, first-year coach Teetzel leads the boys of Benton Harbor to victories over other high schools and colleges in southwest Michigan. Armstrong succeeds with his portrait of team unity and the bonds of friendship, but game narratives are repetitious, the team wins easily, and the contrived drama is silly. The story is further undermined by lifeless fictional supporting characters like Miss Fitzgerald, a gassy teacher who constantly preaches the dangers of football, and Mrs. Van Horne, who unrealistically morphs from protective mom into General Patton inankle-length skirts. Team photographs and pages from a contemporary A.G. Spaulding catalogue provide more interesting detail than any of Armstrong's nonsense. (b&w photos)
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