Only A Game — Robert Daley

The first serious pro football novel. Duke Craig has been a star since high school. Never mind the physical beating he has taken all those years. Through college and then into the pros, his life has been exemplary. Always he has done right thing, the correct thing, an All American in every sense of the term. He has been a dazzling player, admired by his teammates, by the team's coaches and owners, and adored by fans. Then he meets another woman.