Tough Luck: Sid Luckman, Murder, Inc., and the Rise of the Modern NFL
Sep 2019 · Atlantic Monthly Press
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281
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About this ebook
"Rosen artfully blends fascinating tales of the rise of the National Football League with the bloody demise of the mob." —Bill Geist, New York Times–bestselling author
In 1935, as eighteen-year-old Sid Luckman made headlines across New York City for his high school football exploits at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, his father, Meyer Luckman, was making headlines for the gangland murder of his own brother-in-law. Amazingly, when Sid became a star at Columbia and a Hall of Fame NFL quarterback in Chicago, all of it while Meyer Luckman served twenty-years-to-life in Sing Sing Prison, the connection between sports celebrity son and mobster father was studiously ignored by the press and ultimately overlooked for eight decades.
Tough Luck traces two simultaneous historical developments through a single immigrant family in Depression-era New York: the rise of the National Football League led by the dynastic Chicago Bears and the demise—triggered by Meyer Luckman's crime and initial coverup—of the Brooklyn labor rackets and Louis Lepke's infamous organization Murder, Inc. Filled with colorful characters, it memorably evokes an era of vicious Brooklyn mobsters and undefeated Monsters of the Midway, a time when the media kept their mouths shut and the soft-spoken son of a murderer could become a beloved legend with a hidden past.
"Remarkable . . . Artfully organized and deeply researched . . . This [secret] is finally being told, respectfully and stylishly." — Chicago Tribune
"This is a great and beautifully written untold story." —Gay Talese, New York Times–bestselling author
"A fascinating story of the NFL, its growth, and one of its star players. And it is more than just a sports biography." — Illinois Times
In 1935, as eighteen-year-old Sid Luckman made headlines across New York City for his high school football exploits at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, his father, Meyer Luckman, was making headlines for the gangland murder of his own brother-in-law. Amazingly, when Sid became a star at Columbia and a Hall of Fame NFL quarterback in Chicago, all of it while Meyer Luckman served twenty-years-to-life in Sing Sing Prison, the connection between sports celebrity son and mobster father was studiously ignored by the press and ultimately overlooked for eight decades.
Tough Luck traces two simultaneous historical developments through a single immigrant family in Depression-era New York: the rise of the National Football League led by the dynastic Chicago Bears and the demise—triggered by Meyer Luckman's crime and initial coverup—of the Brooklyn labor rackets and Louis Lepke's infamous organization Murder, Inc. Filled with colorful characters, it memorably evokes an era of vicious Brooklyn mobsters and undefeated Monsters of the Midway, a time when the media kept their mouths shut and the soft-spoken son of a murderer could become a beloved legend with a hidden past.
"Remarkable . . . Artfully organized and deeply researched . . . This [secret] is finally being told, respectfully and stylishly." — Chicago Tribune
"This is a great and beautifully written untold story." —Gay Talese, New York Times–bestselling author
"A fascinating story of the NFL, its growth, and one of its star players. And it is more than just a sports biography." — Illinois Times
"Rosen artfully blends fascinating tales of the rise of the National Football League with the bloody demise of the mob." —Bill Geist, New York Times–bestselling author
In 1935, as eighteen-year-old Sid Luckman made headlines across New York City for his high school football exploits at Erasmus H...
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About the author
R. D. Rosen's many books include recent nonfiction that connects America's past and present, including A Buffalo in the House: The True Story of a Man, an Animal, and the American West and Such Good Girls: The Journey of the Holocaust's Hidden Child Survivors. He won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for his first of five mystery novels featuring retired Jewish major league baseball player-turned-detective Harvey Blissberg, and has written about sports for many national publications. He has served as a senior editor for both ESPN Books and Workman Publishing, and once upon a time wrote or performed comedy for PBS, HBO, and Saturday Night Live. He grew up across the street from Sid Luckman in Highland Park, Illinois, and lives in New York, where he still roots for the Chicago Bears.
R. D. Rosen's many books include recent nonfiction that connects America's past and present, including A Buffalo in the House: The True Story of a Man, an Animal, and the American West and Such Good Girls: The Journey of the Holocaust's Hidden Child Survivors. He won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for ...
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