The original edition of The End of Autumn came about when an editor at Doubleday saw a piece I had written for the New York Times about the suicide of my teammate Jim Tyrer. Without his prompting, it never would have occurred to me that there might be any interest in the experiences of an ordinary rather than extraordinary player. Some of the most gratifying responses to the book came in letters from high school coaches or other readers who found in my “reflections” an echo of their own experiences, or who perhaps never played but were interested in the merely human rather superhuman dimensions of the sport.

This reissue of The End of Autumn came about when an editor at the University of Illinois Press contacted me to propose it. This time, my uncertainty about the potential interest in the experiences of an ordinary player was compounded by my uncertainty about the interest in experiences that were several decades old. Playing today at Notre Dame or for the Kansas City Chiefs, or even in youth leagues, is so different from my era that my book has become an historical artifact. But I suspect that the basic personal experience of playing football is not altogether different, and I’m hoping that readers will determine what’s changed and what hasn’t, based again on their own experiences and understanding. 

The book originated in a eulogy to my dead teammate, who apparently was unable to make the transition from football hero to ordinary husband, father, and bread-winner. In recent years we have heard too many wrenching stories of former NFL players who are permanently disabled, or struggling with the consequences of multiple concussions, or otherwise crippled by their short-term athletic careers. This May, I attended a conference in San Diego organized by the Institute for Athletes in Retirement and Transition, a group of academics and former athletes exploring the challenges and searching for the solutions to a dilemma that has unfortunately not changed over the years since I wrote my book. For all intensified media celebrity surrounding the NFL and big-time college football today, even the very best players are still human.

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Michael Oriard is a Distinguished Professor of American Literature and associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Oregon State University. He is the author of The End of Autumn: Reflections on My Life in Football.