Discusses the football star's upbringing as the son of a Hungarian immigrant in the steel country of Pennsylvania; his early achievements at the University of Alabama; his history-making contract with the New York Jets; and the impact of television, the sexual revolution, and Super Bowl III on his legendary status. 200,000 first printing. The divided opinion about Namath seems driven as much by its subject as by its author. Critics extol the coverage of Namath’s early career, but when the story turns post-football, many reviewers flinch. It is as if they can’t reconcile their memories of Broadway Joe with the drunken, luckless-in-love man he became (sadly demonstrated last year on live television when an inebriated Namath twice told ESPN’s sideline reporter Suzy Kolber that he wanted to kiss her). Kriegel, a former sports reporter, goes heavy on play-by-play breakdowns—too heavy by some accounts—but also captures the emergence of the American Football League as a competitive force. Told without the participation of Namath (who reportedly wanted compensation and creative control), the author offers a compassionate ear to this difficult tale. For one straight from the horse’s mouth (and full of that hubris of youth), check out Namath’s autobiography, I Can’t Wait Until Tomorrow ‘Cause I Get Better Looking Every Day (1969). Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. When Joe Namath, fueled by more than a few scotches, guaranteed in January 1969 that his underdog New York Jets--from the upstart American Football League--would beat the powerful Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, it made a good human-interest story. But when the Jets made good on their brash quarterback's claim, the Namath legend was born. Not that Broadway Joe didn't help it grow with his flamboyant lifestyle. Soon enough Namath was the toast of New York nightlife, the poster child for cool. Kriegel, an award-winning columnist for the New York Daily News , examines Namath's life (evidently without Namath's cooperation) from his modest beginnings in the mill town of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, through collegiate years at Alabama, and on to the Broadway Joe era and beyond, analyzing in the process the way that the quarterback's handlers managed to market Namath's cool to the masses. Interviews with friends, former teammates, and family, along with secondary sources, form the bulk of Kriegel's research. The Namath who emerges here is an appealing mix of swagger and insecurity. This is an intelligent, carefully crafted portrait of an American sports icon and an insightful look at how the world of celebrity works. Wes Lukowsky Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Always solid, often brilliant. -- Chicago Sun Times Kriegel has meticulously reconstructed Namath s life and accomplishments with a thoroughness that historian[s] would admire. -- Atlanta Journal Constitution Praise for NAMATH: A Biography by Mark Kriegel Avoiding the pitfalls of mythology while telling a larger-than-life story is never easy, but Kriegel does it grandly in this landmark portrait of the 1960s icon. From the segregated South to the era of showbiz sports, Namath has a Forrest Gump-like way of being there. All the important athletic moments are here, elegantly told: his hardscrabble western Pennsylvania upbringing; his unlikely pairing with Bear Bryant; his arrival in New York as a hard-partying, money-making star and, of course, the win in SuperBowl III. Namath comes off both as throwback (he played through unbearable pain) and hypermodern (40 years ago, he was already getting paid to wear certain brands of clothing). But to write of the first media- age sports star is to tell not just of an athlete but the changing nature of celebrity and society in the 60s that is, the story of modern America and the author manages the elusive trick of illuminating setting as much as subject. He documents how sports became both big business and pop culture through savvy TV deals and the merchandising of stars. If Namath feels like a distant figure, more statue around whom society scrambled to adjust itself than active change seeker, that s because Kriegel convinces us he was a figure both epic and accidental in a world revolving too fast for one person to control. Kreigel has written a remarkable book: a feel-good sports story still abundant with insight and social commentary. Forecast: Football books can be as vulnerable as a quarterback s extremities, but this will cross fluidly into pop culture as has Namath himself. Expect adulation and sales. ( Publisher s Weekly , Starred Review) "Mark Kriegel has written an extraordinary biography of an extraordinary American. Here is Joe Namath in roaring stadiums, in sleazy Broadway dives, in the company of many women and a few mob guys, and lighting up every room he enters. We see him become an essential figure in that social revolution called the Sixties, a time of much sex, laughter and booz