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When the Game Stands Tall

The Story of the De La Salle Spartans and Football's Longest Winning Streak

Author Neil Hayes
Foreword by Tony La Russa
Preface by John Madden
Photographs by Bob Larson
Look inside
Paperback
$19.95 US
6"W x 9"H x 0.96"D   | 18 oz | 24 per carton
On sale Aug 23, 2005 | 432 Pages | 9781583941300

Revised and updated edition of the book available in August 2014 to accompany the major motion picture directed by Thomas Carter and starring Jim Caviezel, Alexander Ludwig, Laura Dern, and Clancy Brown.

By 2002, The Streak—a historic 13-year run of consecutive wins by the Spartans, a high-school football team from Concord, California, that couldn't be beat—was still going strong. In this revised edition of When the Game Stands Tall, author Neil Hayes, who had unrestricted access to the De La Salle team, writes from the inside about the games, the players, and their visionary coach, Bob Ladouceur, who managed to amass the highest winning percentage in football history (.995) through standing for something greater than winning. The book, which also features interviews with major sports figures like Bill Walsh and John Gruden, is a revealing portrait of the coach who believed above all in instilling basic life skills where winning is not the goal, but merely the byproduct of playing the game.

The Streak had become a national story long before it ended in September 2004. In this revised paperback, Neil Hayes catches up on the lives of the main characters and takes readers through the final tumultuous year. What results is a timeless and inspirational story of struggle, tragedy, and triumph.

“Exceptional. A story about brotherhood and the endless fight to achieve greatness in all aspects of life.”—Alexander Ludwig
 
“A road map for developing great teams and great young men. A must read for any coach or parent who wants to help kids reach their true potential.”—David Zelon, producer
 
“One of the greatest football stories ever told.”—John Madden
 
“A story we need to read.”—Tony La Russa
 
“Human vulnerability gets equal time with athletic invincibility throughout Hayes’s book.”—San Francisco Chronicle
 
“Remarkable.”—Pro Football Weekly

Neil Hayes is a sports columnist for the Contra Costa Times newspapers, a 195,000-circulation chain of daily newspapers based in Walnut Creek, California. He is a frequent guest on Bay Area radio stations, and his column is distributed nationally by Knight-Ridder wire services. He has twice been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors for his enterprise reporting and has won numerous writing awards from the Pro Football Writer's Association of America. He lives in Pleasant Hill, CA, with his wife Charlee and their two children, Nicholas and Riley. View titles by Neil Hayes

About

Revised and updated edition of the book available in August 2014 to accompany the major motion picture directed by Thomas Carter and starring Jim Caviezel, Alexander Ludwig, Laura Dern, and Clancy Brown.

By 2002, The Streak—a historic 13-year run of consecutive wins by the Spartans, a high-school football team from Concord, California, that couldn't be beat—was still going strong. In this revised edition of When the Game Stands Tall, author Neil Hayes, who had unrestricted access to the De La Salle team, writes from the inside about the games, the players, and their visionary coach, Bob Ladouceur, who managed to amass the highest winning percentage in football history (.995) through standing for something greater than winning. The book, which also features interviews with major sports figures like Bill Walsh and John Gruden, is a revealing portrait of the coach who believed above all in instilling basic life skills where winning is not the goal, but merely the byproduct of playing the game.

The Streak had become a national story long before it ended in September 2004. In this revised paperback, Neil Hayes catches up on the lives of the main characters and takes readers through the final tumultuous year. What results is a timeless and inspirational story of struggle, tragedy, and triumph.

Praise

“Exceptional. A story about brotherhood and the endless fight to achieve greatness in all aspects of life.”—Alexander Ludwig
 
“A road map for developing great teams and great young men. A must read for any coach or parent who wants to help kids reach their true potential.”—David Zelon, producer
 
“One of the greatest football stories ever told.”—John Madden
 
“A story we need to read.”—Tony La Russa
 
“Human vulnerability gets equal time with athletic invincibility throughout Hayes’s book.”—San Francisco Chronicle
 
“Remarkable.”—Pro Football Weekly

Author

Neil Hayes is a sports columnist for the Contra Costa Times newspapers, a 195,000-circulation chain of daily newspapers based in Walnut Creek, California. He is a frequent guest on Bay Area radio stations, and his column is distributed nationally by Knight-Ridder wire services. He has twice been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors for his enterprise reporting and has won numerous writing awards from the Pro Football Writer's Association of America. He lives in Pleasant Hill, CA, with his wife Charlee and their two children, Nicholas and Riley. View titles by Neil Hayes