The '63 Steelers

Dicks details the travails of the team as they staged weekly dramatic comebacks and rebounded from painful losses, complementing his tale with reminiscences and insights from former Steelers. He traces the individual stories of players like Buddy Dial, who became a star receiver after being cut by the Giants; kicker and defensive end Lou Michaels, who escaped a life in the coal mines; and Andy Russell, who disdained a career in pro football but turned into a perennial Pro Bowl linebacker and a Super Bowl champion. The year 1963 became one of the most tumultuous years in American history. Children died in an Alabama church bombing, the conflict in Vietnam worsened, and the country would be forever scarred by an assassination in Dallas. Dicks places the 1963 Steelers' quest in the context of a nation admiring a young boxer named Cassius Clay, a music phenomenon in England called The Beatles, and the switch from black-and-white to color TV sets. Game photos and training camp shots round out the text.