Never Ran, Never Will: Boyhood and Football in a Changing American Inner City

by Albert Samaha

This uplifting story of a youth football team shines light on a group of preteen boys fighting for upward mobility while on the frontlines of monumental shifts in America, living in a community eroding from gentrification and playing a sport threatened by a growing understanding of its risks.

Never Ran, Never Will tells the story of the working-class, mostly black neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn; its proud youth football team, the Mo Better Jaguars; and the young boys who are often at the center of both. Oomz, Gio, Hart, and their charismatic, vulnerable friends, come together on a dusty football field. All around them their community is threatened by violence, poverty, and the specter of losing their homes to gentrification. Their passionate, unpaid coaches teach hard lessons about surviving American life with little help from the outside world, cultivating in their players the perseverance and courage to make it.

Football isn’t everybody’s ideal way to find the American dream, but for some kids it’s the surest road there is. The Mo Better Jaguars team offers a refuge from the gang feuding that consumes much of the streets and a ticket to a better future in a country where football talent remains an exceptionally valuable commodity. If the team can make the regional championships, prestigious high schools and colleges might open their doors to the players.

Five years in the reporting, Never Ran, Never Will is a complex, humane story that reveals the changing world of an American inner city and a group of unforgettable boys in the middle of it all.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports, Football, Race

368 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2018

Reviews

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brooklyn is noted for its diverse neighborhoods and the changing landscape of the borough is bringing more wealth and success to many of its residents. However, the neighborhood of Brownsville has felt that some of this success has left it behind. There is a great success story that originates from Brownsville – the youth football program known as the Mo Better Jaguars. This excellent book by Albert Samaha captures the spirit of these football squads, as well as its players and coaches.

The main focus of the book is not just the sport of football but the issues facing boys and young men in the inner city. Several players – Gio, Oomz, Isaiah and Hart just to name a few – are portrayed and their issues with family, school, gangs and other matters are told in painstaking detail. Some of the stories are inspirational, some are heartbreaking. Their lives are taking shape while playing for the Mo Better program and they may surprise the reader on just how some of their experiences do not fit the stereotype of life in the inner city.

The same goes for the coaches – Esau, Vick and Chris. These are even better reading as they are not only coaching the boys to improve their football skills but also on what they need to do or not do in order to succeed. Their overwhelming theme is to avoid “the streets” as they can swallow a young man up and he will find himself in gangs, in jail or dead. These coaches not only talk the talk, but they walk the walk. I found Vick’s story quite compelling, especially that at the same time he is telling his players about the importance of school and reading, he is trying to better himself by going to school to become a nursing assistant while trying to find a job.

The reader will also learn about Brownsville – its history, its struggles and the lack of support it has received from the rest of New York City. It is important for the reader to absorb this information as well, as it helps to illustrate what the Mo Better players are experiencing and how the Jaguars have become such a vital part of the neighborhood as many of these youth view football as the means to get onto a path to success. That success may come in the form of an NFL career or a scholarship to college where the education received will lead to a successful career in another field.

Football writing is not forgotten, however, and while Samaha is not a sportswriter by trade, his narratives of the action on field, both in practice and during the games, will be easily digested by all fans of the game no matter how closely they follow the sport. The detail is just as good here, especially when describing how much the players like to hit. It feels like they are releasing all of their frustrations with their issues at home or in school on the other kid, whether it is a teammate at practice or an opponent who will not be able to continue the play.

This book will make an impact on the reader in ways that other sports books cannot, especially when one considers the topic and the issues faced by these young men. It will make the reader think, it will make the reader cheer, and hopefully it will make the reader help to take action to ensure that young men living in places like Brownsville are not left behind.

I wish to thank Perseus Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story of a Brownsville , Brooklyn youth football team, the Mo Better Blues. The players are all pre-high school age spread across three teams each one covering three age groups. Albert Samaha does a good job of describing the players , coaches and parents of these teams and the struggles they face in raising their children , providing a good education and avoiding a life of crime which is ever present in their neighborhood. The head of the program who serves as a Coach is Chris Legree. Legree is a motivational and positive influence on the players many who have had their parents play for or with Chris Legree. Coach Legree is a lifelong resident of Brownsville and former player for the Mo Better Blues. Though football is the driver of this story, the author explores a plethora of social issues and their impact on Brownsville and the football program. It is well known that sports participation can build character, teamwork, toughness, qualities that can lead to a successful future life. Football in particular is a game which can build all the aforementioned qualities teaching one to take and give a hit in a contact sport while developing a non-quitting spirit. All of these qualities are evident in this story as well as stories of failure and loss. This is a good football story with a lot of social commentary by the author. As a lifelong reader of football books, former player,youth Coach and Referee, I found this story entertaining and thought provoking while also reminding me of a famous football quote from General Douglas MacArthur, " on these fields of friendly strife, are sown the seeds that on other days on other fields, will bear the fruits of victory."

[Sheri S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an insightful book about the challenges facing inner city youth and how involvement in youth football can make a significant difference in boys' lives. The book follows one team through a season and recounts the difficulty many of the boys faced with regards to school, finances and parental involvement with the law. The book highlights how football can be a key factor in school opportunities though it also poses risks associated with head injuries. Due to greater awareness (and incidence?) of head injuries, this team/league and others faced greater difficulty fielding a full team. For the team covered in the pages of this book, an absence of even one team member resulted in a forfeit because the team only had sixteen players. The book followed up on a few of the team members in the years following this season. Hopefully we will read or hear their names again in college sports reports. :)

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never Ran, Never Will belongs on the shelf next to Kotlowitz’s There Are No Children Here, Wojnarowski’s The Miracle of St. Anthony, and Coyle’s Hardball. This is an important book that poses real questions about what will fill the void if football and other sports disappear from inner cities. The author cares enough to look at all the factors that affect this neighborhood, and confesses in the introduction that he is one of the people who has moved into and gentrified these neighborhoods. His honesty provides a clear view, a transparency that only comes in the most honest and dedicated of writing. Thank you to Mr. Samaha for writing about these boys and their devoted mentors.

Full review can be found here: https://paulspicks.blog/2018/03/23/ne...

Please check out all my reviews: https://paulspicks.blog

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never Ran, Never Will: Boyhood and Football in a Changing American Inner City by Albert Samaha (Public Affairs 2018) (796.33262) (3388).

Oh boy! A book about a sport I love: football. And youth football at that, and in one of the worst inner-city slums in America! This should be great, right?

Except this turned out to be not so much a book about football as it was a troublingly sad book about the death of “The American Dream” in the inner city. The story is set in 2014 in Brooklyn in a community known as Brownsville, which apparently is one of the most wretched, most poverty-stricken, and most god-forsaken areas of New York City. A youth football program known as the Mo' Better Jaguars had been one of the few points of pride in the neighborhood for over twenty years. The stars from past years on the team were among the few neighborhood celebrities; a surprisingly large number of the former players had been killed or imprisoned as a result of violent crime when they were barely out of their teens.

The coaches were mostly twenty-something former players who had time to coach because they were among the chronically unemployed. These were former football stars who had “never made it out” to decent high schools, much less to college and beyond. Sadly, these men were held up as role models to the current players. The players' home environments ranged from unlivable (i.e., an apartment in a high-rise government housing project apartment with no furniture) to lower middle class. In fact, the one team member who was considered to be from a privileged background was the child of a prison guard and an accountant.

The immediate goal, purpose, and dream of the participating families was that their children would be such star football players at the age of eleven to thirteen that they would be offered the ultimate prize: a scholarship to a private high school away from Brownsville, thereby escaping the ghetto and the crushing poverty that overwhelmed the community. (The author reports that the public schools in Brownsville were the second lowest-performing in all of New York City, with less than ten percent of students achieving English and math competency on standardized test scores.) It was heartbreaking to realize that these families – all Black or Brown, and almost all desperately poor – had concluded that their kids' football ability was the only way out of the miasma of failure that Brownsville had become.

This is as much a book about the crushing of the American Dream as it is about football. At the end of the day, the reader is left with the awful realization that these families are chasing a way out of poverty that no longer exists - if it ever existed.

My rating: 7/10, finished 9/10/19 (3388).

[Ben Westhoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great journalism and storytelling. It tells a story about a part of Brooklyn that's not trendy -- Brownsvile -- through the eyes of a group of at-risk football players who you really fall for.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

An insightful exploration of the issues facing the youth in several communities across the country. The Mo Better Jaguars are more than just a football team, but rather it is an effective vehicle for the youths facing the crushing realities of the inner city to rise above their circumstances and succeed. This does not always happen, but one can still see how beneficial having a mentor can be for these individuals. The message in this book is strengthened further by outlining the criminal justice initiatives in the community as well as the failure/success of these initiatives.

[Dree · Rating 3 out of 5]

For this book, Samaha followed a Pop Warner football team form 2013-2014. Based in Brownsville, Brooklyn, the club has a storied past, but the concussion issue is causing all area teams to struggle for players. Focusing on the coaches, several of the best players, and the families, Samaha examines why these kids are playing, why their parents let them, and what they think about it all.

Brownsville is a rough neighborhood, and while some of these kids live there, some are the sons of dads who made it out, typically due to football. Football can get you into a good public high school, or even a private one. A good high school means graduating and the possibility of a good job. Or a college scholarship. And they like it. Just because these kids or their parents are from Brownsville does not mean they don't have hopes and dreams--but football doesn't protect them from the lure of the streets. They play football because it is a foot in the door, but there are easier ways to make money quickly, and one goal of the coaches is to keep the kids occupied and on the straight and narrow. I found the book got a little repetitive, with another practice and the same drills same dads, same shouts, another game, same things. I know this is how it is, having been a soccer mom. Repetitive.

Samaha follows up in 2017, when the main group of kids is in 10th grade. They are in high school. I found the follow up chapter to be weak--partly due to only few kids being covered, partly due to it only being 3 years later. These kids are in high school right now! He also follows up with a few coaches, but again, I wanted more.

This book is certainly interesting, but will be most interesting to people who like reading about football, youth sports, rough neighborhoods, and school choices.

[Tisha G · Rating 4 out of 5]

In places like Brownsville where opportunities are limited and daily life is often treacherous, little league football has promised to provide boys access to better future opportunities as well as a “wholesome” and motivating activity in the present. Football is a gamble that sometimes pays off but is all too often not enough. Samaha captures the lives of several coaches and young players during a couple of seasons.

From pp. 212-13:

“In Brownsville, football was not the end but the means. Football offered a path to escape the neighborhood. Addressing the team one evening, Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams said, ‘When you’re holding a football, you don’t have a gun in your hand. When you’re running down the field, you’re not running from the police. If you can put a ball through a hoop, you can wear a black robe and sit on the Supreme Court.’

“Though [parent] Roxanne had learned to like football, she did not like everything about it. The violence worried her. She’d read about the scientific research on brain damage and about the NFL’s assurances, in response, regarding the sport’s safety. But while she was unsure about the exact dangers of football, she was absolutely certain about the benefits her son would gain if he went to a good high school and then college after that. Because football is important in America, she recognized that Isaiah’s skills made him valuable in the eyes of those who could help him.”

[Natalie Lancaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good!!! This book clearly describes life in the streets for kids & teens in the inner city of Brooklyn, New York and the impact that sports can have on their lives. The Mo Better players are instilled with discipline, self-control and a work ethic that can take them anywhere both on and off the field IF they decide to stay off the streets and keep their attentions focused. The book reveals insight into families with incarcerated fathers, those struggling to pay their bills and the realities of street violence. The players and their coaches see firsthand violence all around them but choose to set their sights on something higher—success in a place that isn’t easy to be successful. I found myself rooting for the boys, both on the field and off it! The kids are my age. They’re living in circumstances similar to those that I spend time with a local inner city nonprofit ministry. I found myself seeing the faces of my kids at SOS on these boys and imaging all that their future can hold.

Read it. We need changes in these neighborhoods that support these families to achieve all that they have the potential for—success!! And sports have the potential to do that for so many.

[Arianna Rebolini · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Never Ran, Never Will, Albert Samaha zooms into the pressing, complicated conversations around privilege, gentrification, and anti-blackness in America by examining them within the context of a boys football team in the high-crime and close-knit Brooklyn neighborhood Brownsville. The book follows the Mo Better Jaguars — the coaches, led by Chris Legree, and the preteen players — over the course of five years. And while the games drive the narrative, it's the way the team shapes the boys' trajectories that is most compelling. Samaha gets at this by weaving in the history of the town and its residents, the persistence of gang violence and the circumstances that enabled it, and the nationwide threats on the lives of black boys and men. That Samaha is able to give such an intimate view of this large cast of characters is a testament to his dogged reporting and his deep investment in their right to tell their stories. The result is a captivating book that will make you feel like you're right at the sidelines, breath held, rooting for the team.

[Douglas Sawyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know that profanity is very much a part of regular speech, especially in areas like Brownsville, and to not use any would not have worked, but author just seemed to use it as justification to throw it in whenever and wherever. Think it was unnecessary in many places.
Author also mentioned concussions and the concern of long term effects, but then basically down played them. Add someone who works sports medicine (athletic trainer) on sidelines at many youth athletic contests, they are a serious risk and should be treated as such. That being said, football isn't only sport that gets them and with role changes they are happening less. Soccer is an even greater concern in my experience, but also get them in basketball, lacrosse, hockey, squash, wrestling. I've even had an athlete get one while lying in bed. So football is a risk, but so are many other things, and concussions should always be taken seriously.
That being said, author did a great job in portraying life in areas like Brownsville, and what minority and poor kids and families face. I've lived in areas like it and worked with kids in those areas. This is their life. Their fears. Their dangers. The choices and pressures they have to face. You get a true taste of their lives reading this book.

** add on: Recently read "All the Dreams We’ve Dreamed: A Story of Hoops and Handguns on Chicago’s West Side" and had to modify my rating. Took a star away. All the dreams we've dreamed tells a similar story of growing up in our black neighborhoods facing drugs, gangs, and guns, but yet portrays things just as well, if not better, and does it without all the profanity. Just feel the amount in never ran is a bit over the top and amateurish. Message is still good though

[Tricia Wade · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars. I listened to this book because my 9th grader had to read it for class this year. Overall, I was bored. It follows a real youth football team in the Brownsville neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY and their struggles to even field an entire team. I appreciate the deep reporting of the team and area, I just wish there was more on the actual players instead of just a few select players (and this could have been out of the author's control due to consent, etc.). And I wanted less play-by-play of every.single.football game. I see it is now a docuseries and would definitely be interested in watching it. The biggest take away for me? Many of the people did not care "how dangerous" football could be. Although there were talks of head injuries, etc., the only goal was to keep playing no matter what because football was likely some of the kids only way out of gangs, etc. Football could be the ticket out of poverty for many of the kids.

[MGF · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook, read by the author. A heartfelt, well-written book that had me rooting for the Brooklyn-based Mo Better Jaguars. The portrayal of the characters (kids, coaches, family, etc.) was expertly and compassionately done. For me, at it’s heart, this was a success story, but success does not come easily, nor is it a sure thing.

This book adeptly addresses the intersection of gentrification, race, economic development, and (of course) the role of football. Football is becoming less popular for kids as the risk of brain damage becomes more transparent, but it still plays an important role in the US. For certain kids, it is a ticket to better schools, better jobs, better opportunities - but at what cost? It’s obvious that the luxury of making the decision to play or not play is not an easy one when looked at holistically. I don’t know the right answer. Highly recommend.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rallying cry from the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn—“I'm from the ’Ville--never ran, never will”—inspires the title of this book that combines sports, sociology, economics, and criminal justice. Though this kind of journalism has been done before—embedding with a team and showing their struggles, especially outside the sport—Samaha definitely has readers pulling for the Mo Better Jaguars on and off the field, and his portrait of their coaches is especially well done. The book has some structural unevenness, but is an enjoyable read.

[Aja West · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Few traits can win friends, Gio realized, as effectively as the ability to throw a football.”

Excellent book about football, boyhood and the inner city. As the mother of sons who happen to love football, I found Never Ran Never Will particularly compelling, but I think it’s a valuable read for anyone. Well-researched but also readable. I chuckled, I cried, I nodded along in agreement, I thought long and hard about different aspects of the book.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely interesting story of football in an inner city. Really enjoyed the descriptions of every person and the update at the end of these kids. Struggled a little listening to this on audio because there were so many different people. I felt the descriptions of football games to be a little unhelpful, as I thought this book was more about their lives rather than play by play description of the games.

[Sam Rega · Rating 5 out of 5]

Albert Samaha's "Never Ran, Never Will" is a page-turning wonder. Started reading and I couldn't put it down. It's a New York story, but it's an American story. If you've read Samaha's work before you'll instantly recognize his attention to detail and his natural way of captivating his audience. It's a must read for people, not just sports fans.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samaha takes you beyond the surface and beyond the field right into the heart of these kids lives in his debut book. He did a fantastic job of how showing how real the stakes are for these young boys at the tender age of 10, 11 and 12.

A great coming of age story in modern American that uses football as an entry point to touch upon real themes the nation faces today.

[Hezekiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a tough journey. This book is a great story about resiliency and being tough in the face of fear. I found myself wanting more for these kids and coaches as I came from the same areas they did. It is also a chilling look into the changing landscape of urban environments and the viewpoint of football as king. If you're not inspired after reading this, you may have no heart.

[Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of good men trying to teach young boys about football and values that will keep them out of the drug life. I heard that flag football is now the fastest growing youth sport.
With the changing cities I wonder where the poor will live.

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was outstanding. As an educator that lives in Brooklyn and that’s worked or has connections to many of the schools mentioned in this book, I loved getting to know more about the players, their families, their coaches, and their neighborhood - Brownsville. Highly recommend.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deeply nuanced look at inner-city youth football in 21st century, this book does a great job of being a narrative about both a team and a community at the same time. It's like Friday Night Lights, but in Brownsville, Brooklyn instead of Texas. Highly recommended.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oof, compared to the books I've been reading this was a heavy subject matter. Still, even as someone who isn't a fan of football I found this story of boys playing on a football league in inner city Brooklyn compelling.

[Sammy Dane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Albert’s access to the boys and their coaches is incredible. His ability to earn their trust and enable them to open up and be real with him is what allowed to this book to be unique - and his creatively grounded writing style is what makes it unforgettable.

[Geoff Walling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really bad title that has almost nothing to do with the book. It's actually a pretty good story about young kids from about 8 - 12 playing tackle football.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Great storytelling.

[Kathy Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book everyone should read! You feel a personal relationship with every community member, rejoicing in their success and genuinely aching in their heartbreak.

[Liam Power · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent reportage in this, the author has made the absolute most of his material. Highly recommended.

[Ava (jeepneylit) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Albert Samaha writes with compassion. As a reader, one can't help but root for the kids, their coaches, and their families.