The All Americans

De: Lars Anderson

Narrado por: Vince Bailey

Duración: 12 h y 24 m

Resumen del Editor

On November 29, 1941, Army played Navy in front of 100,000 fans. Eight days later, the Japanese attacked, and the young men who battled each other in that historic game were forced to fight a very different enemy. Author Lars Anderson follows four players - two from Annapolis and two from West Point - in this epic true story.

Bill Busik: Growing up in Pasadena, California, Busik was best friends with a young black man named Jackie, who in 1947 would make Major League Baseball history. Busik would have a spectacular sports career himself at the Naval Academy, earning All-American honors as a tailback in 1941. He was serving aboard the U.S.S. Shaw when it was attacked by Japanese dive-bombers in 1943.

Hal Kauffman: Together, Busik and Kauffman rode a train across the nation to Annapolis to enroll in the Naval Academy. A backup tailback at Navy, Kauffman would go on to serve aboard the U.S.S. Meredith, which was sunk in 1942.

Henry Romanek: Because he had relatives in Poland, Romanek heard firsthand accounts in 1939 of German aggression. Wanting to become an officer, Romanek attended West Point and played tackle for the Cadets. He spent months preparing for the D-day invasion, and on June 6, 1944 - the day he would have graduated from West Point had his course load not been cut from four years to three - Romanek rode in a landing craft to storm Omaha Beach.

Robin Olds: The son of a famous World War I fighter pilot, Olds decided to follow in his father's footsteps. At West Point he became best friends with Romanek and the two played side-by-side on Army's line. In 1942, a sportswriter, Grantland Rice, named Olds to his All-American team. Two years later Olds spent D-day flying a P-38 over Omaha Beach, anxiously scanning the battlefield for Romanek, hoping his friend would survive the slaughter.

The tale of these four men is woven into a dramatic narrative of football and war that's unlike any other.

©2001 Lars Anderson (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

a little haphazard, but inspiration

the reader read so slowly and deliberately I had to speed it up to 1.3x in order to tolerate it. the spot was really more a collection of stories. it got confusing because it was about not army and navy, abd then shebang I thought it would tie in during the war it spread out even further. so while inspiring, not the best book I've read about either football or war.

Terrible narrator

I’m only two chapters in and I’m pretty certain I can handle listening to this guy for another 10 hours. Super slow over annunciates certain words. But was interested in the story, sad!