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"We'll Always Be Pals": The last words of a dying father and a true hero!
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$ 19.15
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$ 19.95 |
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| Item Number |
755902 |
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Item Description...
Product Description
"We'll Always Be Pals" are the last words my father said to me before he died. The youngest of his six children, he taught me everything there is to know about how to be a man in this world. He should know, after the life he lived. Born in 1920, Gene McManus witnessed some of the most historic events in our country's history. A product of the Great Depression, he was a football star, a boxer, and a B-24 Liberator pilot and POW during World War II. My story is a small one. Out of football for two full seasons after a glorified college career, I had left my football dreams behind me until I got a call out of the clear blue sky. The man who taught me how to play the game was all the inspiration I ever needed to realize a life long held dream. "We'll Always Be Pals" is ultimately the story of a father and son who were fifty years apart in age yet ended up best of friends. Tom McManus, grew up playing football. He started in the 4th grade at St. Mary's of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, a Catholic grammar school located outside of Chicago. He went on to Wheeling HS, where he was an All-Conference and an All-State linebacker. He accepted a football scholarship to Boston College and received his bachelor's degree in Marketing. He was named a third team All-American his senior year along with being a two time First Team All Big East linebacker under the tutelage of Tom Coughlin. He failed in his first two attempts to make it into the NFL and spent two football seasons out of the game, tending bar in Chicago. In 1995, he got a lucky break and became a member of the inaugural Jacksonville Jaguar Franchise of the NFL. He played an instrumental role in the Jaguars miraculous 1996 season, the Cinderella story of the NFL that year, as he started 14 games at middle linebacker including the 1997 AFC Championship Game and proved to the NFL that he did, in fact, belong. Tom is the owner and host of a sports talk radio show in Jacksonville, Florida called, "The Rumble with Tom McManus" on 1010 XL. Tom is involved in many charitable causes, most notably, the Jay Fund Foundation, established by Tom Coughlin, and the C.H.I.L.D. Cancer Fund. Tom resides in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, a beach residence outside of Jacksonville, with his wife, Kristina, and their three daughters, Avery, Kelsey, and Harley.
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Item Specifications...
Pages 304
Dimensions: Length: 8.9" Width: 5.9" Height: 0.7"
Weight: 0.9 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Nov 13, 2008
ISBN 1598587684
EAN 9781598587685
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Availability 100 units.
Availability accurate as of May 27, 2012 09:47.
Usually ships within one to two business days from La Vergne, TN.
Orders shipping to an address other than a confirmed Credit Card / Paypal Billing address may incur and additional processing delay.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | "We'll Always Be Pals" Oct 6, 2009 |
EXCELLENT BOOK!!! It just shows how much perseverance, hard work and determination plays a major role in our achievements. I think all children want to please their parents; but having the support, love and lessons from "hard-knocks" give us just the edge we need to make it in this world.
Thank you again for writing such a wonderful book. It was hard to put down!
I would definitely recommend this book! | | |  | A Story of Great Admiration and Respect Apr 30, 2009 |
No one likes to talk about death, especially if the death involves a close family member. But one man who is willing to relive his painful experience of family death is Tom McManus and he expresses his sentiments with great pride in the pages of this book. McManus grew up in a closely knit family and he considers himself fortunate to have been blessed with the mother, father, and siblings that he grew to know and love. He spends some time talking about his family members in this book, as well as his own pursuit of his dream to play in the National Football League.
McManus wrote this book as a personal memoir, but he devotes most of the pages to his father and his great admiration for the man who gave him life is evident from the books opening pages all the way to its closing thoughts. McManus spends time talking about all of the important life lessons that his father, Geno, taught him, both through his father's words and his father's actions. The elder McManus was a man of principle and he didn't just tell his children the right way to behave, he demonstrated his desires through his own actions. With his son Tom, Geno pushed him to be the best; to excel at life and aim to be the greatest. Whether it was football or learning how to be a man and take responsibility, Geno was the guiding force in Tom's life and he gives much credit to the man who helped make him who he is today.
Geno was more than just a great father and husband, he was also a war hero and this fact of Geno's life is exposed near the end of the book. Tom knew his father had fought in World War II, but he never really knew the specifics of his father's involvement. He found out one day when the question was finally presented, and he discovered things about his father that were shocking and awe- inspiring. This secret part of Geno's life was now in the open, and his father's heroics served to further strengthen the close bond that Tom and his father already shared.
Geno eventually lost a battle with cancer and Tom, while certainly grief- stricken, was determined to fulfill him and his father's dream: Success in the NFL. He worked harder than ever and was eventually rewarded with a position on the Jacksonville Jaguars football team. His father received the great news shortly before his death and even though Geno was not around anymore to witness the great success and the playoff berths that the Jaguars would enjoy in future years, Tom gives his father most of the credit for his achievements- both on and off the field.
This book is an emotional one, and many people will relate directly to Tom McManus for several reasons. Some will relate because they have also experienced the death of a loved one. Others will relate to McManus' determination to succeed and all of the frustration he had to endure as he fought tooth and nail to be accepted as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The emotional aspects rank as the book's most touching moments, and the relationship between Tom and Geno is certainly inspiring and satisfying.
As a personal memoir, this is a very good book about one man's relationship with his father and his determination to reach the highest level of his chosen profession. The book could have been improved with some editing, but this is still a very good book that most will enjoy. Whether you're an NFL fan or a person who can relate to the book's main topic, there will be much to enjoy in this sports/personal memoir. You won't find any fake punts or trick plays in this book- only genuine displays of affection and admiration toward a man who was influential in so many positive ways to so many people.
| | | | An involving portrait of love, sacrifice, heroism, growth, and sharing Apr 13, 2009 |
"We'll Always Be Pals": The Last Words of a Dying Father and True Hero! is the true-life memoir of a son's bond with his father. The father, Gene McManus, lived through some of the most tumultuous events in history - he grew up in the Great Depression, and became a football star, a boxer, a B-24 Liberator pilot, and a POW during World War II. His son, author Tom McManus, was fifty years his junior yet treasured his bond with the father that taught him how to play football and pursue his dreams. "We'll Always Be Pals" were the last words Gene said to his son before passing away. An involving portrait of love, sacrifice, heroism, growth, and sharing.
| | | | Wonderful Reading Mar 11, 2009 |
| Will give 5 stars; A wonderful book, but some offensive words in body of book. | | | | Great story of family love Feb 28, 2009 |
What an interesting and fascinating book this former NFL player has given to the world. Tom's insight on his and his father's life is such an inspiration to any reader. Tom's father, Geno McManus, was a family man that enjoyed not only his family but also his football. Geno loved to coach and teach football and other sports too, but football was his love. Geno probably could have been an NFL player as Tom eventually became, but the war short-circuited Geno's career. When WWII began Geno and many of his college friends joined the military to fight a different battle than the ones he loved on the football field of play.
Tom tells early in his book about the many times he got in trouble because he enjoyed everything, even the things he knew were wrong. Not the kind of trouble that was against the law (well, most of the time) but things that would irritate friends, neighbors, and schoolmates, but Tom, as his father had taught him, knew what to say and do to make things "right!" Geno's family had gone through the great depression and knew from his life and his parent's life how tough living could be to just exist. Geno was quite a boxer and golfer, and he enjoyed beating up on the best he could find. He wanted to go to college but the depression forced his parents into making him work because money was so scarce. Geno worked at menial jobs making very little in wages but every little bit helped. Eventually Geno worked in a bank and enjoyed his football and boxing on the weekends. Many a Monday he would report to work black and blue.
Eventually Geno decided he had to go to college and enrolled at Rutgers and played football and boxed, being among the best at both. But, when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 Geno joined up not knowing if he would ever be able to go back to Rutgers. He was in his sophomore year when he left. He went through training and became a pilot of the monster "boxcar" B-24 Bomber.
The book shifts to Tom at this point when he was finishing up his high school after very successful football years. His dad was his biggest critic knowing that Tom would get an earful even if he did everything correctly on the field. Tom Coughlin, the future coach of the new Jacksonville NFL Jaguars, was coaching at Boston College, the school Tom had chosen from his scholarship opportunities. Little did Tom know what a roll Tom Coughlin would play in his future!
Geno had never talked about the war to his son. One day Tom brought up the subject and Geno opened up. Geno had flown many missions over Germany but one day was shot down and became a prisoner of war. Geno opened up to Tom his experiences from training, to actually flying, to the prisoner time, to liberation, and his return to the United States. Tom tells this period very well.
I found myself tearing up as I read some of Tom's passages describing his dad and the relationship they had. They truly were "pals" in every family sense of the word. I highly recommend this book if you like a very well written book about human life, football, high family values and the carrying out of same, love of all members of the McManus family, and how their lives affected each other as well as their friends. Thanks Tom for sharing.
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