From Playing Field to Battlefield: Great Athletes Who Served in World War II Hardcover – January 1, 2006

Some 50 professional and college athletes who served in the military during World War II are highlighted in this collection of essays. Many are famous: baseball players Ted Williams, Jerry Coleman, and Bob Feller; coaches Tom Landry and Dr. Jack Ramsay, to name a few. Others will be recognizable to only a few readers. While the men’s notoriety and accomplishments are as diverse as their personalities, they have one thing in common—their experiences in the military profoundly influenced the course of their lives. Not all made it home. Baseball’s Charles Brewer and football’s Jack Lummus and Nile Kinnick made the supreme sacrifice, leaving family, friends, and fans wondering what might have been. Those lucky enough to survive came home with new perspectives of the world and of themselves. The war years were a unique time in the history of American sports. It was a time when athletes understood that something much more important than the outcome of a game was at stake and joined their fellow Americans to do their part in the war effort. It was a time when service to their country mattered most. In today’s world of multimillion-dollar contracts and drug scandals involving athletes driven by selfishness and greed, stories like the ones included in this book will put sports in the proper perspective. Author Rob Newell, a captain in the U.S. Navy and longtime sports fan, interviewed most of the athletes featured in the book, and his enthusiasm for making their stories public is contagious. Read more