'59: The Story of the 1959 Syracuse University National Championship Football Team

by Gary Youmans, Maury Youmans

This is the story of a group of unheralded athletes driven to the pinnacle of college football by a hardnosed coach whose style was right for the times. This inside look at college football in 1959 follows the Syracuse University Football Team through their remarkable season. Led by a team captain who as a young boy in Nazi Germany survived World War II, this improbable tale is at times humorous, other times poignant, but always brutally honest. It's a look back at a young black kid by the name of Ernie Davis who would blaze a trail and then tragically be gone. At the end of a decade so rich in culture, we find this unique blend of young men coming together to create a lasting moment in time.

Genres: Sports, Football

238 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 2003

Reviews

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is half 4 stars - the stories shared by the brother of the author, who was a member of the 1959 Orangemen, were very good for the most part and in many cases entertaining. However, when it came to game coverage and writing about the action on the field, that half of the book was 2 stars as spending some time at a library at the microfiche machine would produce the same results - and probably more complete as there were games - most notably the game against Maryland - that seemed lacking in needed explanations. So, I will take the average of the two and give this a three star rating, but just barely.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up in Syracuse, I knew about the 1959 team (before I was born) but had never really read much about them. Being that this was written 60 years after they won made it more difficult to get as many interviews as possible (and we know that many recollections from sports players aren't always correct and/or embellished), the author did a good really job putting this together.

Sadly, the Kindle format was a mess with some of the editing but it was still good enough to read.