John Feinstein’s “A Season on the Brink” a masterpiece, but don’t overlook importance of “A CIVIL WAR,” his tome on Army-Navy Game
PHOTO: John Feinstein annually covered the Army-Navy Game for the Washington Post.
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Click here for review and purchase link: THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.
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By TOM SHANAHAN
Most John Feinstein tributes pouring in following the news of his death at age 69 on Thursday focus on his best-selling book, “A Season on the Brink.”
And rightfully so.
He spent the 1985-86 season with mercurial Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight and crafted a masterpiece. The book explained Knight’s basketball coaching skills at the same time he reported on a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality.
Basketball fans everywhere loved the book. Knight hated it.
But the bottom line was Feinstein let Knight tell his own story – without Knight realizing it – as a brilliant basketball coach and his own worst enemy as a person. And Knight’s friends didn’t hold the book’s honesty against Feinstein.
But I think Feinstein’s more important book to American culture and sports his 1997 masterpiece, “A Civil War: Army vs. Navy a Year Inside College Football’s Purest Rivalry.”
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say the rebirth of America’s love affair with the Army-Navy Game began with “A Civil War” capturing the nation’s attention. Prior to the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s and the rise of NFL popularity and the Super Bowl, the most important games of the football season were the Army-Navy Game and the Rose Bowl.
Feinstein spent a year embedded with the Army players at West Point and the Navy players at Annapolis. You learned what it takes for Cadets and Midshipmen to train as future officers and play Division I football. You respected the challenge they took on while contrasted with college football excesses and players chasing NFL dollars.
The strength of the Army, Navy and Air Force programs gained consistency with the respect the military regained in the 1990s following Desert Storm. How the Cadets and Midshipmen earned our respect came through in the pages of Feinstein’s book.
This past season, Army posted a 12-2 record enroute to winning the American Athletic Conference title, winning the Independence Bowl and a final national franking of No. 21. Yet, Navy pulled off an upset in the Army-Navy Game.
The result was yet another tribute to the intensity of the game. You learned about it through Feinstein’s book and his annual coverage of the game in the Washington Post.
While I read “A Civil War,” I especially enjoyed seeing Gervy Alota, John Moe and Lebron Butts jump off the pages. I wrote about all three when they played at Morse High in San Diego. All three were Navy starters – Alota a safety and team captain as a senior, Moe and offensive lineman and Butts a wide receiver. Just typing their names again was fun. Thanks for that, too, John.
The Army-Navy Game ratings have been on the rise in the 21st century. The renewed interest was evident from President Donald Trump, a Vietnam War draft dodger, grandstanding with appearances. If the game wasn’t popular, a place to be seen, Trump wouldn’t be there honoring Cadets and Midshipmen doing what he wouldn’t do.
Feinstein would have agreed with me on that point.
When Feinstein wrote his 2021 book on sports and race, “RAISE A FIST, TAKE A KNEE: Race and the Illusion of Progress in Modern Sports,” he highlighted the playing and coaching careers of Jimmy Raye, another sports figure important to my career.
My book, “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans,” detailed how Michigan State coach Duffy Daugherty’s teams led college football integration. When Feinstein praised my book in “Raise a Fist, Take a Knee,” that also jumped off the pages.
Raye was the South’s first Black quarterback to win a national title on the 1965 and 1966 teams that shared national titles. Daugherty recruited Raye out of segregated Fayetteville, N.C., aboard his Underground Railroad.
Daugherty also launched Raye’s coaching career when he hired him as an assistant on the Spartans’ staff, in 1972. Raye was only second Black coordinator in NFL history when the Los Angeles Rams hired him in 1983. Raye came along before Black coaches received an honest chance to become a head coach, but the Pro Football Hall of Fame honored Raye in its inaugural class of NFL Awards of Excellence recipients, in 2022.
I also appreciated Feinstein for understanding how I’ve been trying to tell the true stories of college football integration through RAYE OF LIGHT and my second book, THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football in the 1960s.” Most media members are unable to see the myths about Alabama coach Bear Bryant have unjustly overshadowed the true 1960s pioneers. Facts matter to Joh, if not others.
He graciously wrote this jacket blurb endorsing my book.
I used portions of a story Feinstein wrote in 1980 while covering the Notre Dame Alabama game. He the shallowness of Notre Dame fans not appreciating Devine for the record he posted at the school upon succeeding Ara Parseghian. Devine’s record measured up to Ara if not to the beloved Parseghian’s record. It’s Page 154 of THE RIGHT THE TO DO. Feinstein was only 25 years old at the time, but the writing dripped with the maturity of a more experienced observer of big-time sports.
John also helped me launched my podcast, THE END GAME, when I invited him on to discuss “RAISE A FIST, TAKE A KNEE,” with my co-host, Herman Bulls.
You can watch it here:
As it turned out, Feinstein’s final story, written for the Washington Post, was on Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. He turned it in to the editors on Wednesday morning and the story posted Thursday. He was found dead of natural causes later in the day by his brother.
RIP, John Feinstein.
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Tom Shanahan is an award-winning sportswriter and frequent contributor to Spartanmag.com in addition to posting on his website. His new book on Michigan State leading college football integration is, “THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.” His first book was “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.”
I invite you to follow me on Twitter @shanny4055
Below are links to click on to purchase my books focused.
My books tell the true story of college football integration in the 1960s and address the myths and fiction that allowed a false narrative surrounding the 1970 USC-Alabama game to usurp the credit from the true pioneers. As I said when I spoke at the National Sports Media Association book festival, no two books provide an accurate portrayal more than RAYE OF LIGHT and THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
I’ll put my facts up against anybody, anytime, anywhere. Watch here.
Click here for my story on the 1962 Rose Bowl and Segregation awarded first place by the Football Writers Association of America. I tell untold stories on Michigan State’s leading role and the true pioneers of college football integration. Click here to read the summary as a first-place story.
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Click here to purchase The Right Thing To Do
THE RIGHT THING TO DO
The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s
Foreword by Ruffin McNeill
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Click here to purchase Raye of Light.
RAYE OF LIGHT
Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the 1ntegration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans
Foreword by Tony Dungy
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Click here to purchase my children’s book, Bubba’s Dad, Duffy and College Football’s Underground Railroad
The book for now is only a Kindle version on Amazon. Print and audio platforms available soon.
