On Any Given Sunday

For more than 35 years, Robert S. Lyons has covered professional and college sports for the Associated Press and has contributed articles to numerous national publications. He is the author of Palestra Pandemonium: A History of the Big Five, and co-author (with Ray Didinger) of The Eagles Encyclopedia (both Temple). He is the former director of the La Salle University News Bureau, editor of the university's alumni magazine, and an instructor in the school's Communications Department.

• Foreword by Don Shula Acknowledgments Prologue 1. The Early Years 2. The Quarterback of the Quakers 3. A War Hero Tastes the French Nightlife 4. Back to Penn as Captain of the Quakers 5. Bert Bell’s Coaching Career Begins 6. The Roaring Twenties- Off the Field 7. Frances Upton: One of America’s Brightest Stars 8. The Yellow Jackets Become the Eagles 9. The Eagles Struggle under Bell and Wray 10. The Player Draft Comes in 1936 11. Additional Shock Waves from 1936 12. The Struggle to Survive: 1937 to 1939 13. Bert Bell and Art Rooney Get Together 14. Bert Bell Ends Up in Pittsburgh 15. Bracing for World War II 16. The Steagles 17. The Card- Pitts 18. The New Commissioner 19. Mysterious Negotiations with the AAFC 20. A Gambling Scandal Nipped in the Bud 21. Blizzards, Gamblers, and a Rebellious Club Owner 22. A Dispute with Walter Annenberg and a Truce with the AAFC 23. Buffalo, Dominoes, and Television 24. Finally a Home of Their Own 25. The Dream Game Turns into a Shocker 26. Problems with the Federal Government 27. “Listen, Sonny, Just Sign the Contract!” 28. Baltimore Rises from the Ashes 29. More Warfare and the Sermon on the Mount 30. Flare-Ups, Pile-Ups, and a Move to Oust the Commissioner 31. The Commissioner’s Working Style 32. At Home in Narberth 33. The NFL Welcomes Bubble Gum Cards and CBS-TV 34. “You Can’t Quit Now, Pete Rozelle!” 35. The Players Finally Get a Unionr 36. The “Hands- On” Commissioner 37. “On Any Given Sunday . . .” 38. “Sudden Death” Finally Arrives 39. Anxiety over the AFC, the Pension Plan, and the Pro Bowl 40. A Poetic Ending at Franklin Field Epilogue Sources Index

"Robert S. Lyons' flavorful biography captures the blustery and paternalistic Bell, portraying him as a man who worked relentlessly to keep the NFL alive and push it to thrive....[T]he book is worth reading. One has to appreciate the long string of anecdotes and colorful details Lyons has dug up. Who knew, for instance, that Bell would calm tempers at owners' meetings by taking out his false teeth and putting them in his water glass? More important, no book has detailed Bell's contributions to the NFL so thoroughly." -Philadelphia Inquirer"I know the book well. It's a terrific book."- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, as heard on The Sal Paolantonio Show (ESPN)