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Alum's book relives 13 of the greatest moments in sports
By Brian Fitzgerald
What lesson can be learned from Al Silverman's latest book ? If you leave
the stadium early, you could miss a miracle.
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Al Silverman Photo courtesy of the author |
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In It's Not Over 'Til It's Over: The Stories Behind the Most Magnificent,
Heart-Stopping Sports Miracles of Our Time (Overlook Press, 2002), Silverman
(COM'49, Hon.'86) takes the reader through 13 exciting moments in sports
history, events that some impatient fans undoubtedly failed to see because
instead of listening to Yogi Berra's sage advice, they headed to the parking
lot prematurely.
Among events he relives are the sixth game of the 1975 Red Sox-Reds World
Series, the 1971 Frasier-Ali fight, and the only sudden-death pro football
championship game ever played: the Baltimore Colts-New York Giants 1958
thriller. He also writes about the running exploits of completely unknown
contender Billy Mills in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the 1992 Duke-Kentucky
college basketball championship, the 1999 women's World Cup soccer match
between China and the United States, and America's epic quest for hockey
gold at the 1980 Olympics.
Silverman, former editor and publisher of Viking Press, has written 10
books on sports, including the novel I Am Third, with Gale Sayers, which
became the movie Brian's Song. So when Overlook's publisher asked him
to write a book about memorable moments in 20th-century sports, he didn't
have to think twice.
Further, he had spent his entire career covering athletics. As editor
of his college newspaper, the Boston University News, he broke the story
that football and baseball phenom Harry Agganis (SED'54), who was being
courted by more than 100 colleges, would enroll at BU. After graduating,
Silverman was first editor of Sport Magazine, and then a book author and
ghostwriter -- he helped several stars write autobiographies, including
Green Bay Packer Paul Hornung and baseball Hall-of-Famer Frank Robinson.
"I was so lucky to get the Sport Magazine job," recalls Silverman.
"I never expected to make a living covering sports -- one of the
greatest joys in my life."
It's Not Over 'Til It's Over was fun to work on, but also posed a huge
challenge: he was told to limit the book to some 300 pages. "I spent
a lot of time with a long list of events that appealed to me," says
Silverman. "I kept cutting back on the list, and then I thought that
I was going to write about 15 or 20 moments. But when I was researching
each event, I knew that I couldn't do it justice in 8 to 10 pages. Unfortunately,
I had to eliminate some of my semifinalists."
He developed two criteria: the importance of the game (was a championship
at stake?) and the closeness of the contest. "I know people are going
to question my inclusion of the 1968 Harvard-Yale football game,"
he says. Although the two undefeated Ivy League teams weren't battling
for a title, the 85-year-old annual rivalry has been woven into the mythology
of American sports. Plus, it involved a thrilling comeback: Harvard, losing
22-6 at halftime, managed to tie the game, 29-29, with a last-second touchdown.
"And let's not forget that there were 350 reporters covering the
game that day," he says.
Likewise, the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team's 4-3 win over the mighty
Russians wasn't for the gold medal -- the Americans won that the following
day by beating Finland, 4-2. Still, you won't find a bigger David vs.
Goliath story:
a powerhouse Soviet team whose players' average age was 28, against a
ragtag bunch of college kids and recent grads, including Jim Craig (SED'79),
Mike Eruzione (SED'77), Jack O'Callahan (CAS'79), and David Silk (CAS'80,
GSM'93). With an average age of 22, they were seeded 7th in the 12-team
tournament. "I think everyone would have put that game on their list,"
Silverman says. "When I did interviews for this book, Mike Eruzione
was the first person I talked to."
Silverman "transports us to the time and place of some truly extraordinary
events," says television announcer Bob Costas. "And he does
it with such skillful attention to moment-to-moment detail. It's as if
the drama is unfolding before us right now."
Indeed, these narratives put the reader in the spectator's seat, and in
each chapter you can feel the excitement build to the climax. "What
I tried to do with every story was write it like a mystery," Silverman
says, "and not give away the ending until the end."
On Wednesday, October 2, at 7 p.m. Silverman will discuss It's Not Over 'Til It's Over in Barnes & Noble's Level 5 Reading Room in Kenmore Square. The event is free and open to the public.
27 September 2002
Boston University
Office of University Relations