Review of Chris Willis’ Book The NFL’s 60-Minute Men

Pro football author Chris Willis’ new book entitled The NFL’s 60-Minute Men: All-Time Greats of the Two-Way Player Era, 1920-1945, is a painstaking effort of research and evaluation that has few – if any – peers.

The book evaluates a total of 45-star pro players from the NFL’s formative years and analyzes their strengths, weaknesses, and accomplishments against one another during the eras that they played.       

Fans of the sport may not realize this, but prior to the specialization in a player’s individual position on his team that we see today, many players had to take their stances at several positions…on both offense and defense. The main reason for this was necessity, as club rosters were much smaller in number than what the NFL rules currently stipulate.

One of the sections of this book that I found very enjoyable was its “Leave No Stone Unturned” approach. Willis goes out of his way to include a ranking of 55 players from those early years of the game who did not make “The Best Of…” listing.

For pro football historians, it’s a virtual “Who’s Who” investigation of the NFL annals. Willis’ exemplary work in writing this book gives us cause to remember and honor the exploits of the players mentioned from a bygone time in history, which is something that he has done in all his previous books about pro football’s past.