Three-Week Professionals

In 1987 the players of the National Football League went on strike, demanding better pay and the right to seek free agency. Determined to keep the league going, team owners pulled replacements from wherever they could be found, from the semi-pro leagues to bar stools, in order to create makeshift teams. For three weeks, "regular" men-truck drivers, school teachers, stockbrokers-were able to put on NFL helmets and jerseys, play in professional stadiums, and live their dreams. The replacements had to dodge thrown food and endure catcalls while they played in nearly empty stadiums, but for three weeks they could call themselves professional football players. Ultimately, the replacements' days as professional athletes were all but forgotten by fans and the league. Ted Kluck changes that in Three-Week Professionals: Inside the 1987 NFL Players' Strike, sharing the stories of the replacements alongside the strike experiences of NFL veterans. The innocence and joy experienced by the replacements stand in stark contrast to the high-stakes negotiations being waged by striking NFL players, negotiations that would spike the pay scale and change the face of the NFL. Three-Week Professionals includes original interviews with both the replacement players and the professionals who went on strike, bringing to life these brief but unusual days of football. Football fans and sports historians alike will find this book a fascinating glimpse into three of the strangest weeks in the NFL-and come to realize the impact those weeks had on the world's most lucrative sports league.

Ted Kluck

Prologue: Here I Go Again: Football in France Introduction: Land of Confusion: Tape, Turf and the 1987 NFL Player's Strike Chapter 1: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: The Football Nomad (Mike Hohensee) Chapter 2: Didn't We Almost Have It All: The Meat and Seafood Guy (Joe Bock) Chapter 3: Full Metal Jacket: The Coach (Les Steckel) Chapter 4: Who Will You Run To?: The New Irving Fryar (Larry Linne) Chapter 5: Yo, Bum Rush the Show: From Suge Knight to Steve Dils Chapter 6: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Leigh Steinberg) Chapter 7: You Keep Me Hangin' On: From First Round to Replacement (John Reaves) Chapter 8: Stand by Me: The Regulars (Keith Butler and Jeff Kemp) Chapter 9: The Last Emperor: Montana and the End of the Strike Part I Chapter 10: The Lost Boys: Adrian Breen and the End of Strike Football Part II Epilogue: Over the Top: 1987 and Beyond Afterword: The Running Man: On Walter Payton and Boyhood Idols Acknowledgments About the Author Bibliography