Robert W. Peterson is the author of Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams and Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football.

"Essential reading for sports fans."—Library Journal "Even those who are not fans of the sport will delight in Peterson's accounts of early games featuring 40 players on each side and the wild fights to recover out-of-bounds balls which led to the setting up of wire or rope cages all around the court. The book offers sidelights on the game as it developed: the gradually increasing importance of players' height, . . . the influx of Jewish players during the Depression years, and the rise of the Harlem Globetrotters to counter Jim Crow on the courts."—Publishers Weekly

Robert W. Peterson is the author of Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams and Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football.

"Essential reading for sports fans."—Library Journal "Even those who are not fans of the sport will delight in Peterson's accounts of early games featuring 40 players on each side and the wild fights to recover out-of-bounds balls which led to the setting up of wire or rope cages all around the court. The book offers sidelights on the game as it developed: the gradually increasing importance of players' height, . . . the influx of Jewish players during the Depression years, and the rise of the Harlem Globetrotters to counter Jim Crow on the courts."—Publishers Weekly

Robert W. Peterson is the author of Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams and Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football.

"Essential reading for sports fans."—Library Journal "Even those who are not fans of the sport will delight in Peterson's accounts of early games featuring 40 players on each side and the wild fights to recover out-of-bounds balls which led to the setting up of wire or rope cages all around the court. The book offers sidelights on the game as it developed: the gradually increasing importance of players' height, . . . the influx of Jewish players during the Depression years, and the rise of the Harlem Globetrotters to counter Jim Crow on the courts."—Publishers Weekly