Battle's End: A Seminole Football Team Revisited

In 1981, Alexander (The Way to Xanadu), a returning Rhodes scholar, tutored several (poor, black) Florida State football players in English, feeling an affinity for them despite differences of race, gender and class. The bulk of this book consists of interviews--oral histories, almost--with eight of the men, a pro athlete, a prison guard and two prisoners. While the book's format precludes the sustained reportage that might add texture, Alexander is a sensitive, sympathetic interviewer. The stories suggest a college football system unconcerned with people, but, more important, they picture neighborhoods where dreams were short and drugs plentiful, and where schools offered little to kids in poverty. But each tale is individual, and Alexander captures the gentleness of a man guided by his church, the channeled pride of the star athlete who remembers his origins and the truncated dreams of the convict who hopes to give his kids a future. No, this is not a book about a team, but it is a reminder of the human stories behind our gridiron fixation. Photos. (Dec.)