Illinois

Illinois history exceeds the capacity of the Sears Catalog for categorization and the World’s Fair for spectacle. And no matter what the self-appointed tour guide at the local diner might say, the heritage of the land of Lincoln doesn’t end with Capone’s demise. Like the Chicago Loop, the Prairie State’s past seems to defy straightforward chronology—Cahokia offered a version of urban sprawl more than a thousand years before the first Windy City skyscraper. From Park Forest to Cave-in-Rock, scan our shelf of Illinois history books with the unflagging enthusiasm of a Wrigley Field hot dog vendor. [View all Illinois books]
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Cover image for Chicago Bears History, isbn: 9780738533193
Chicago Bears History
$23.99
Bear Memories
Bear Memories
$24.99
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg
$23.99
Aurora's East-West Football Rivalry:
Aurora's East-West Football Rivalry:
$23.99
Northwestern Wildcat Football
Northwestern Wildcat Football
$24.99

Chicago Bears History

9780738533193

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When George S. Halas was asked to rebuild the Staley Company's football club in Decatur, Illinois in 1920, nobody could have imagined that his efforts would forever change Sunday afternoons in America. Halas helped found the National Football League, and with it the Chicago Bears, the most storied franchise in the league's history. From the Galloping Ghost, to the Monsters of the Midway, to that indomitable "46" defense-the "Grabowskis" as their coach named them-Bears teams and players have made such an impact on the city of big shoulders that Chicago will be forever known as a "Bears town."
Cover image for Chicago Bears History, isbn: 9780738533193

Bear Memories

9780738539874

$24.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
"Halas would provide food according to how we had fared against the Packers. If we won, it was steaks for everybody. But if we lost, we were lucky to be served hamburgers."
--Harlan Hill, 1950s

"I didn't have any particular grievance with any of the Packer players, I just wanted to beat them all."
--Hall of Famer Doug Atkins, 1960s

"Doug Buffone took me aside to tell me about Green Bay games . . . to set me straight about the importance of the rivalry. It definitely was not a game to be taken for granted."
--Brian Baschnagel, 1970s

"Each year at the start of the season, fans we'd meet would just have the one request--please beat Green Bay."
--Jim Flanigan, 1990s
Bear Memories

Amos Alonzo Stagg

9781467145220

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Inside the life of Amos Alonzo Stagg, a man who not only witnessed great change, but was responsible for much of it in college football.


The arc of Amos Alonzo Stagg's life spanned the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. His career flourished on the Chicago Midway and found an encore on California's Pacific coast and in Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley. Stagg pioneered use of the tackling dummy, the huddle, the forward pass, the shift, the man-in-motion, the quick kick and the short punt. He developed the raw talent of young men with little or no athletic background long before the age of scholarship athletes, and his championship teams at the University of Chicago established the school's national reputation before it became famous for producing Nobel laureates. He helped shape the modern Olympic Games, and the coaching tree he nurtured continues to bear fruit in football programs across the country. Author Jennifer Taylor Hall traces the remarkable life of the "Grand Old Man of Football."

Amos Alonzo Stagg

Aurora's East-West Football Rivalry:

9781626195554

$23.99 Save Liquid error (snippets/product-template line 248): Computation results in '-Infinity'%
For over 120 years, the people of Aurora, Illinois, have gathered together to watch East Aurora and West Aurora High Schools square off in what is now Illinois' longest-running football rivalry. Since first taking to the gridiron in 1893, the schools have laid claim to mythical state championships, represented Illinois in intra-sectional games and pioneered night football. Alumni from these storied rivals include college all-Americans, Hall of Fame coaches, decorated war heroes, an Olympic medalist, a charter member of the NFL, numerous successful high school coaches, outstanding businessmen and civic leaders, including former mayors of Santa Monica, California, and Des Moines, Iowa. Author Steve Solarz pored over the records of more than two thousand games to produce a work that is both an encyclopedic resource and a passionate account of a celebrated tradition.
Aurora's East-West Football Rivalry:

Northwestern Wildcat Football

9780738534336

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Their program was once regarded as a powerhouse, but 25 years ago the Northwestern University football team set records for futility. Defying nearly all expectations, the Wildcats experienced a rebirth in 1995 and have been surprising the college football world since. Northwestern Wildcat Football describes in detail the team's first games in the 19th century, the Wildcats' title runs in the 1930s, the career of NU legend Otto Graham, the 1949 Rose Bowl championship, the era of Ara Parseghian, the woes of the '70s and '80s, and Northwestern's return to football prominence in the past decade. From their beginning as one of the earliest college teams in the Midwest to the recent series of Big Ten championships, the Northwestern Wildcats have clawed their way to claim 8 conference titles, 36 All-Americans, and victory in some of the most thrilling college football games ever played.
Northwestern Wildcat Football