From the untimely deaths of young athletes to chronic disease among retired players, roiling debates over tackle football have profound implications for more than one million American boys-some as young as five years old-who play the sport every year. In this book, Kathleen Bachynksi offers the first history of youth tackle football and debates over its safety. In the postwar United States, high school football was celebrated as a "moral" sport for young boys, one that promised and celebrated the creation of the honorable male citizen. Even so, Bachynski shows that throughout the twentieth century, coaches, sports equipment manufacturers, and even doctors were more concerned with "saving the game" than young boys' safety-even though injuries ranged from concussions and broken bones to paralysis and death. By exploring sport, masculinity, and citizenship, Bachynski uncovers the cultural priorities other than child health that made a collision sport the most popular high school game for American boys. These deep-rooted beliefs continue to shape the safety debate and the possible future of youth tackle football.

The San Francisco 49ers have one of the best records in NFL history, with 20 division championships, seven conference championships, and five Super Bowl championships. On a team with outstanding talent each year, who among its past and present players could be ranked among the 50 greatest? Who would occupy the coveted #1 spot? Jerry Rice? Ronnie Lott? Joe Montana? Chales Haley? Robert Cohen, has his own take on the matter and in a book that is bound to inspire conversation if not controversy, ranks what he believes are the greatest players from 1-50, with a few honorble mentions.