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Monster of the Midway: Bronko Nagurski, the 1943 Chicago Bears, and the Greatest Comeback Ever |  | Author: Jim Dent
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 985923
Media: Paperback
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 031230868X
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.332092
EAN: 9780312308681
ASIN: 031230868X
Publication Date: September 8, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Jim Dent's Monster of the Midway is the story of football's fiercest competitor, the legendary Bronko Nagurski. From his discovery in the middle of a Minnesota field to his 1943 comeback season at Wrigley, from the University of Minnesota to the Hall of Fame, Bronko Nagurksi's life is a story of grit, hard work, passion, and, above all, an unstoppable drive to win. Monster of the Midway recounts Nagurski's unparalleled triumphs during the 1930s and '40s, when the Chicago Bears were the kings of professional football. From 1930, the Bronk's first year, through 1943, his last, the Bears won five NFL titles and played in four other NFL Championship Games. Focusing on Nagurski's 1943 comeback season, and how he miraculously led the Bears to their fourth NFL championship against the backdrop of World War II era Chicago, Jim Dent uncovers the riveting drama of Nagurski's playing days. His efforts were the stuff of legend, and his success in 1943 accomplished in spite of a battered frame, worn-out knees, multiple cracked ribs, and a broken bone in his lower back. While chronicling the drama of the '43 championship chase, Dent also tells of both the Bears' colorful early years and Bronko's improbable rise to fame from the backwoods of northern Minnesota. Woven into the narrative are the sights and smells and sounds of one of the most romantic, flavorful eras of the twentieth century. And laced through it all are stories of legend: Bronko rubbing shoulders with colorful characters like George Halas, Red Grange, Sid Luckman, and Sammy Baugh; Bronko running into (and breaking) the brick wall at Wrigley Field; Bronko winning All-American spots for two positions; Bronko knocking scores of opponents unconscious; and Bronko reaching the heights of football glory and, with rare grace, turning his back on the game after winning his last championship. Rich in unforgettable stories and scenes, this is Jim Dent's account of Bronko Nagurski-arguably the greatest football player who ever lived-and his teammates, the roughest, toughest, rowdiest group of players ever to don leather helmets, and the original Monsters of the Midway.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
 traces the history of a fledgling league struggling to survive April 6, 2010
Indian Prairie Public Library (Darien, IL)
Before multimillion dollar contracts, television and injured reserve lists, professional football players often played while hurt for little money with no motivation other than the desire to win. Monster of the Midway traces the history of a fledgling league struggling to survive through the exploits of one of its toughest competitors.
 Nostalgic read July 11, 2009
Peter (Melbourne Australia)
The book on Bronko Nagurski is not just a biography of the playing career (not the life) of Bronko, it is a look at the times that he played in and the memorable people in football at the time.
It is a book best read with rose-tinted glasses on as the writing is a touch worshipful of Bronko and maybe a bit exaggerated but be that as it may, it is a fun read.
If you are looking for a book on Bronko only, don't get this book as we only get very brief glimpses into Bronko outside of the playing field unfortunately. Would have loved to read about what he did after he retired.
Bronko June 7, 2008
Olen R. Kline (Fairfax, VA USA)
Good book, style is a bit uneven, but it is Jim Dent's style. Football in the early days, no money, riots on the field, in the stands, gambling, and the greatest football player of the era. If Red Grange brought professional football respectability and to the nations attention, Bronko kept it interested.
Good job of reporting on the era surrounding the story. 20's through the 40's in America.
Cardinals, Packers, Lions, Tigers and Bears, oh my! November 6, 2007
Borowy26 (Chicago)
This is a highly entertaining biography of one of the most celebrated football players in Chicago Bear history, Bronko Nagurski, who starred for the Minnesota Golden Gophers as a college athlete before turning professional. Jim Dent's welcome book may well serve to introduce Nagurski to a new generation of football fans.
Nagurski, the son of immigrants from Central Europe (from the Polish Ukraine), was born in Ontario, Canada, but his family relocated across the border to International Falls, Minnesota, where Nagurski would continue to live for the remainder of his life. He compiled an outstanding athletic record while at the University of Minnesota that earned him national acclaim. Later, he would be elected to the National Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio for his many accomplishments as a professional player.
For most Americans of Nagurski's era, football was secondary to baseball and the sport was viewed by many as simply a means to pass the time during the Fall and Winter months while waiting for the next baseball season to begin. In fact, many celebrated college football players turned to the baseball diamond after graduation because it offered better paychecks and the prospect of greater job security. "Papa Bear" George Halas, himself, had played a handful of baseball games for the New York Yankees. Jim Thorpe, Ernie Nevers, Paddy Driscoll and so many others did the same, but many great football players were only mediocre baseball players. In other instances, however, pro football lost talented players to pro baseball.
The pioneers in the National Football League operated under circumstances that would seem incredible to the spoiled millionaire athletes playing today: player salaries were minimal in most cases (oftentimes, as little as $2,000.00 per season for ordinary players). Sometimes, the ticket sales receipts from the box office had to be collected in order to pay immediate expenses and wages. NFL franchises frequently folded due to insolvency.
In one telling example that addresses both the hard times of the Great Depression and the legendary penury of Bears' owner George Halas , author Jim Dent describes how players who required athletic tape, bandages and liniments from the team trainer, Andy "Doc" Lotshaw, earning some extra dollars after his summer baseball employment with the Cubs concluded, were subjected to wage deductions imposed by the thrifty Halas to recover the nominal costs of the trainer's supplies.
Another obstacle to the prosperity of professional football was the fact that an overwhelming majority of fans viewed college football as the legitimate brand of the game. Nagurski's own college coach actually tried to discourage him from turning professional. The upstart professional league was considered too undignified by many fans of the college game.
When George Halas relocated the Decatur Staleys, a factory sponsored team, to Chicago, he appropriated the orange and blue team colors from the University of Illinois, his alma mater, and named his football team "The Bears" as a derivative of the Chicago Cubs baseball team which also played at Wrigley Field. In another bid to gain further respect for the fledging professional league, Halas signed well known college stars such as Harold "Red" Grange and Nagurski to the team roster.
I found this book to be enjoyable for a number of reasons. The Halas family once lived in the same Catholic parish as did my family; the Vanisi family, which produced two sons who went on to become football general managers, once lived one block down our street. My grandfather worked with Red Grange when "the Galloping Ghost" began selling insurance after his injured legs no longer permitted him to make the "cuts" that made him such an exceptional gridiron runner. Dent provides an accurate description of Grange bandaged and taped like a mummy as he played his final season of football.
Notorious gangsters like Al Capone and his constant bodyguard and companion, "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn, were frequently in the grandstand at Wrigley Field, where the Bears played their home games for nearly fifty years. Capone would generously tip the Bears players if the team had played an especially exciting game. Players and fans frequently mingled in the same speakeasies after the contests concluded.
Nagurski continually had quarrels with Halas concerning his salary and eventually retired after one such dispute in 1937. He took up professional wrestling as a new moneymaking venture and became a champion. He reinvested his big city earnings into a gas station that he operated for many years in his hometown of International Falls.
During World War Two, when the National Football League struggled to operate with depleted rosters, Halas requested that Nagurski come out of retirement and return to the Bears. After a six year absence, Nagurski helped lead the team to another title in 1943. This unique and unprecedented comeback season is the central episode in Dent's book.
After reading "Monster of the Midway," I corresponded with the author, Jim Dent, a football enthusiast best known for writing "The Junction Boys" an earlier book which described the beginning of the career of coaching legend Paul "Bear" Bryant. "The Junction Boys" was eventually adapted for a cable television movie.
Dent, who is a Texan, sent me a gracious handwritten letter which acknowledged the receipt of a list of corrections and suggested revisions that I had sent to him. His book, like many written by authors who are not natives to the localities that they are describing, contained a number of minor errors and misdescriptions. Some authors have delicate egos when it comes to readers pointing out any research errors and omissions that they may have made, but Dent politely admitted that my suggested corrections were largely accurate and that he added that he intended to incorporate several of the changes to the text when the book was reprinted. Like many authors, Dent had almost all of the essentials in place, but missed a few secondary details about Chicago and its sports teams.
I was interested to learn that Nagurski's son played college football at Notre Dame and joined the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League afterwards. Before his death, Nagurski accepted an invitation to attend a Super Bowl game as the guest of NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle.
Someday, I hope that a movie adaptation of "The Monster of the Midway" can be produced. Jim Dent alluded to this prospect. In the meanwhile, seek out this book if you like old time football or are curious about the origins of the game, you will probably be pleased with this title. It is fun to read and not too heavy in its approach to the subject. By all accounts, Nagurski was an honest, hardworking and unassuming man and Dent captures his spirit in this way.
 Somewhat disappointed December 17, 2004
tom williams (Schaumburg, IL United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Jim Dent's Monster of the Midway is less a biography of Bronko Nagurski, and more of a historical look at the era in which Nagurski dominated the National Football League.
If you are a sports fan, you may enjoy this book; if you are an NFL fan you will love learning about the story of one of the league's most endearing names and a charter member of the pro football hall of fame. If you are a sports history afficianado like myself, you will enjoy the stories Dent has to tell and appreciate the way he makes this book read like a novel at times. In some ways I even feel this book will translate well to a television movie -- like the Junction Boys.
It took me about two weeks to finish this book which is my average pace of about one chapter per night. Where Jim Dent fails to deliver to the reader is an inside look at the life of Bronko Nagurski. After completing this book, I did not feel as if I had spent those two weeks with Bronko himself, rather, I felt I had just spent the entire time watching old films of the Bears against the Packers and reading old newspaper clips from the Chicago Tribune.
Jim Dent is a good writer, but I would not put his Monster of the Midway in the same league as Jane Leavy's biography of Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy -- one of my favorite sports books. Leavy's work made me feel as if I had spent a September evening at Dodger Stadium sitting next to Sandy Koufax reliving his glory days. I did not get that type of feeling when I read Monster of the Midway.
Perhaps this is an unfair comparison. Part of the problem that Dent may have faced, primarily is that Nagurski is no longer with us, but also, there probably was not a whole lot said or heard about Nagurski for him to work with. The National Football League at the time was in it's infancy and nowhere near the media monster that it is today, or what Baseball was in the 1960's for that matter.
Regardless, I added this book to my collection because it is a good book. As a football fan, and a Bears fan in particular, I enjoyed this book and will cherish what I learned.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
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