No, I'm not talking about soccer, I'm referring instead to "Gridiron Gladiators" Italian-Americans in College, Semipro & Pro Football, Vol. 1: 20s-30s-40s," by Italian author Fausto Batella.
Like my cousin in Sestri Levante, who has played in Italy's American football league, Batella certainly knows more about the game than I do. But his book is such a labor of love -- and no small amount of research -- that his passion for the game is palpable and infectious.
I was excited to read that Peter "Pete" Robotti, who went to Connecticut State, played for the Jersey City Giants. Maybe he was a cousin of mine. His neighbor in the book, Paul Romano, who played for the Akron Bears and Paterson Panthers of the AFL, went to Wisconsin. Long-time Packers star Tony Canadeo is in there, along with his Green Bay teammate Chick Forte.
Across 225 pages, Batella details all the Italian-American players of American football across three decades, listing their schools, their teams and offering biographical information where possible, too.
The book is available from iUniverse, via the link below.
|
2 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review. |
Posted by Bobby Tanzilo on April 8, 2008 at 7:56 a.m. (report)
Thanks Rick, I should have pointed that out. Interestingly, Grisham's book (which is a novel), is an American writing about American football in Italy, while Batella is an Italian writing about Italian-Americans playing in the U.S. Talk about internationalism! :-)
| Rate this: |
Posted by rick4206 on April 7, 2008 at 6:41 p.m. (report)
John Grisham has a good book about this subject as well. I think its called "Playing for Pizza".
| Rate this: |
|
Tuesday Looking at today's list of cool Milwaukeeans made me think of how much I love the cool ... |
|
Monday If you've been reading our blogs, you know that Kohl's Cares for Kids is having a school ... |
|
Monday Last week I told you about Take One, Milwaukee's Film's children's festival that takes ... |
|
Thursday When Pezzettino wanted to get "Lub Dub," her awesome collaboration with LMNTylst, pressed, ... |
|
Aug. 26, 2010 You may already know I'm a passionate promoter of Italy's Piemonte region, where my roots ... |
|
Chester French plays free show Thursday Aug. 25, 2010 In spring we told you that Chester French, the Massachusetts-based band that features ... |
|
Aug. 24, 2010 Great news fish lovers. Not only do you not have to wait until Friday to enjoy your beloved ... |
|
Aug. 20, 2010 One of the best surprises recently in Milwaukee music has been the emergence of Conrad ... |
|
Aug. 19, 2010 Coheed and Cambria, citing a desire to support local music, announced a contest today ... |
|
Aug. 19, 2010 This weekend WMSE dishes up The Radio Summer Camp Symposium, a convention-style event ... |