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Thursday, October 11, 2007
Updated: October 12, 12:32 PM ET
By David Fleming

POTTSVILLE, Pa. -- After a long, crazy, awesome day of events in Pottsville, Pa., to celebrate the release of "Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship," I stood in a corner of the crowded Greystone Restaurant here in town talking to Pottsville native and former Denver Bronco Jack Dolbin. A starting wide receiver for the Broncos during their Orange Crush heyday -- still wearing his 1977 AFC Championship ring -- Doblin spoke passionately about how the current NFL lacks what he called "the proper reverence and respect," not only for the league's retired, disabled players but for pioneering teams like his beloved Pottsville Maroons.

But even if the owners and the players fall short in their appreciation and respect for those who paved the way before them, let me tell you something I've learned after just 24 hours in Pottsville:

True NFL fans -- in places like the coal region of Pennsylvania, and the wonderful, warm, proud towns like Pottsville that dot this region -- most certainly do not.

After arriving in town, my family and I were invited for dinner at the Pottsville Club, where everyone was trying to gauge the interest and reception the book was going to get in town. Just before dinner, though, we were interrupted by a lovely little grandmother-like woman who said she was looking forward to reading the book because she was a fan of the region's proud football heritage, and she'd actually known some of the players on the 1925 Maroons.

Without thinking, I asked her which players she knew. Halfway through my response, however, I realized she was probably just being nice; now I had put her on the spot, and basically blown my first interaction in town.

"Oh, I knew Tony Latone rather well, he was the running back, you know, and his fullback Barney Wentz, I knew him too," she replied without hesitation. "I was a fan of the way those two ran the ball, the way they played the game, you know. Yes I was."

"Welcome to coal country, Flem," was the first thought that shot through my mind.

Then I thought about NFL great Fritz Pollard, who once said there were three kinds of football: pro, college, and coal region. And in 1925 the Pottsville Maroons -- one of the most dominant, influential and controversial teams in the NFL history -- ruled them all.

Almost 82 years after the Maroons' meteoric rise to the top of the football world, this unique, vibrant town is still rallying behind their team in a way that could teach the NFL a thing or two. I hate to say it, but there is more passion and support for the NFL today in Pottsville (90 miles northwest of Philadelphia in the valley of Sharp Mountain) than there is in Los Angeles. (Maybe the Jacksonville Jaguars should move here? After getting to know folks like Ian and Eric Lipton, and other business leaders in Pottsville, that's actually not as preposterous as it sounds.)

Pictures of the Maroons are in all the storefronts that line Centre Street. There are Maroons ribbons everywhere. In the display case at city hall is the huge trophy for the team, carved out of a single piece of anthracite coal.

We had a press conference at the Maroons Bar and Grill in town, where my daughters helped me cut a ceremonial cake with a picture of the team on it. Fans here love the Maroons so much, they refused to eat the part of the cake with the team's picture on it.

(And by the way, having my family here has been a blast -- because, honestly, until now I think my kids thought their dad earned a living by listening to music, playing air guitar and typing on the computer in his pajamas.)

Nearly 200 people packed the Majestic Theatre Wednesday night to watch some old clips of the team, listen to Maroons collector and historian Scott Warren speak, and listen to a few readings from my book. During one of the clips that aired on ESPN (John Madden referenced the Maroons on a "Monday Night Football" telecast a few years back) a player's son said, "Those people up in Pottsville, they won't quit, they won't ever quit."

Tell me about it.

They had 60 books available at my first book-signing here in town. And according to the Pottsville Republican & Herald, those 60 books were gone in 15 minutes. By the end of the day all 500 books in town were gone, trucks were being organized for a run to Scranton to pick up a fresh supply, and I was seriously considering signing books with my left hand. (I'm ambidextrous like that and, worse, shamelessly self-promoting according to this entire paragraph.) With the line out the door and down the sidewalk, the mayor of Pottsville himself, John Reiley, came over pushing a handcart with three boxes of "emergency" books from his stash at city hall.

What we'd failed to appreciate was most people were buying multiple books -- for their uncle living in Florida, for their dad, for their kids, for their husband or wife, for their former football coach. Even after four years of being somewhat obsessed with this team and this remarkable town, I never understood their true passion and enthusiasm until I got to meet face-to-face with the fans of the Maroons and to hear their stories.

I signed a book that someone was going to give to Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid. Dolbin is going to send a book to Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen. I signed for several sons of actual team members. I signed for John Faro, 91 years old, who says he was at both the Chicago and Notre Dame games in 1925 -- two contests that changed the course of the pro football. I signed for people in Florida, California, Colorado, Idaho, and a guy who drove up from Baltimore. I signed for crying kids and laughing great-grandparents. I signed for a professor at Temple who wrote to the NFL commissioner on the team's behalf when he was 10 years old.

Yes, my hand is sore from all the signing. But to a writer, that's the best feeling in the world.

The responses from residents at the book signings have had a common thread: for 82 years, this town has been playing a game of David and Goliath with the NFL and a handful of 'historians' who have been, at times, nasty, condescending and dismissive of the Maroons and the people in Pottsville -- simply because they could do so with impunity, since the team and the town had no voice.

But judging by the response so far, I think it's safe to say things have changed.

I have another signing at the library in town, where I hope to meet up with Billie Payne again. There's also a Big Band Night Thursday night (swing dancing: not my specialty). And, to cap off the week, I'll be at the Pottsville-Shamokin high school football game Friday night. On their way to the field, the Pottsville Crimson Tide pass by a photo of the 1925 Maroons on a wall just outside their locker room. In the book I talk about how it seems like the spirit of this rugged, pioneering team is still very much alive in this region, and that the players are still watching over the town. Watching, and waiting, and hoping they get what they earned on the field so many decades ago.

And judging by the remarkable response so far, who knows? Maybe the Maroons won't have to wait much longer.

David Fleming is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and the author of the memoir "Noah's Rainbow." His next book, "Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship," will be published Oct. 9 by ESPN Books and has been optioned as a movie. The Flem File will run each Thursday during the NFL season.