by Jeffrey J. Miller
Marv Levy turns 100 on August 3. Tributes will pour in from all corners of the
football world when the momentous day comes.
If you are a regular reader of the Pro Football Journal, I will
pay you the respect of assuming that you are fully aware of Coach Levy’s
history and accomplishments. To be sure,
I could fill this article listing the many things he has done, but since every major
sports media outlet will be publishing them, I think to do so here would be an
exercise in redundancy.* Instead, I’d
like to relate the story of how, back in 2009, I had the honor of writing a book with the oldest living member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
I had recently written Rockin’ The Rockpile and was
looking for a new project when I began reading The 50 Greatest Plays in New
York Giants Football History by my friend John Maxymuk. I thoroughly enjoyed not only John’s
excellent authorship but also the format.
After doing a little research, I found out that the publisher, Triumph
Books of Chicago, was doing a series of 50 Greatest books, which also
included versions for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears.
Duly inspired, I fired off an email to Triumph’s acquisition
department informing them of my previous work and my desire to write a Buffalo
Bills version of 50 Greatest. To
my surprise, I received a positive response from Adam Motin, Development Editor
at Triumph Books, just a few days later in which he expressed their interest in my proposal. There was one catch, however.
Triumph had some sort of commitment to do a book with Marv Levy. Would I mind collaborating with the Hall-of-Famer
and greatest coach in Buffalo Bills history?
Pregnant pause.
Well, I cannot remember my exact response, but I am sure it
went something like “No freakin’ way!”
Not really. It was probably more
of a restrained “yeah, sure!” as I tried to mask the excitement of being
offered a chance to work with someone of Coach Levy’s stature. Sure, I was
confident in my ability, but at this point, I had only written two football
books (Buffalo’s Forgotten Champions and Rocking the Rockpile),
so this was a huge step. But one I
welcomed gleefully!
A couple of days later, I came home from work and saw the
little red light flashing on my answering machine. I pushed the button and the first message
that sprang forth went something like this … “Hello Jeff, this is Marv
Levy. I understand we are going to be
writing a book together. Please give me
a call at (his private number) and we can discuss the particulars.”
For a solid week I played that message for anyone who
happened to drop by the house for a visit. Come on ... who wouldn't?
I returned Marv’s call straight away. We had a nice chat in which he expressed
excitement at writing this book with me. He
informed me that he had a heavy schedule of commitments that will limit his
availability and that I will “have to play quarterback” for this project and
let him know what particular plays from the team’s history I wanted him to
write about, and proofread the chapters he sends to me. Not a problem!
The initial idea was, as stated above, to produce a book
consistent with Triumph’s 50 Greatest series. Within a very short time, Marv and I were
corresponding daily via email, phone and fax (this was the dark ages of 2009,
after all). We eventually compiled a
tentative list of the plays we planned to cover. We agreed that Marv would write about the
plays that occurred during his time as the Bills’ head coach, while I would
tackle any of the selected plays that happened before or after his tenure. Marv even sent me a few hand-drawn sketches
of some of the plays we intended to feature in the book. Thank goodness I saved those faxes!
Here are a few ...
Fax received from Marv February 6, 2009,
indicating some of the plays he had sent.
Marv's hand-drawn diagram of the play known
as the "Kelly Keeper" that defeated the
Miami Dolphins in the 1989 season opener.
Marv's sketch of the play known infamously to Bills fans as
"The Drop" in which halfback Ronnie Harmon dropped a
last-ditch pass in the end zone in the Bills' 34-30 loss
to the Cleveland Browns in the 1989 Divisional Playoff.
However, after just a few weeks, we were notified that
Triumph was shifting gears and was going to be discontinuing the 50 Greatest
series in favor of a new series called Game Changers: The Greatest Plays in (insert team name here)
Football History. The good news was
that Marv and I would still be collaborating.
The unhappy news was that it would not be the style of book I had
envisioned. But that was not really a
big deal.
Though we never met face-to-face during the writing portion
of this book, we corresponded several times each week, even several times in a
day in some stretches. Marv would send
me his chapters and ask my opinion or that I go through and check for typos,
etc. In some cases, his chapters were
very long and I had the responsibility of having to whittle away some content
to make it fit into the available space.
My friend Jeff Mason (my former high school history teacher who has proofread nearly
everything I have ever written over the years) proofread the finished
manuscript for any misspellings, typos, grammatical errors, and so on.
Our book was officially published in October 2009. In all, we included 36 plays or events from
Buffalo Bills history. The hard-bound
book was lavishly illustrated and presented as a nice coffee table style book for die-hard Bills fans.
Game Changers, pub. 2009 by Triumph Books
Triumph did a nice job promoting this book, too, hiring a
publicist who set up several signing events in which Marv and I appeared
side-by-side in front of large numbers of fans.
Admittedly, 90 percent were there to meet Marv. Clearly, he was a bit of a sex symbol, as
many middle-aged ladies pushed their way behind the signers’ table to have a
picture taken with the man. In some
cases, I was pushed aside by women wanting just them and Marv in the shot. Some would run their fingers through his
hair! It was like being on stage with
Tom Jones! They were unaware (or maybe
just unconcerned?) that Marv’s wife Fran was present during some of these
events, sitting not more than ten feet off to the side.
Book signing event at the Buffalo Bills
Quarterback Club.
One particular incident sticks out that underscores just
what a gentleman and decent human being Marv is. We were doing a signing event at the local
Barnes & Noble Bookseller, starting at 7:00 on a Friday evening. The store manager was kind enough to let some
members of my family in a bit early to get their copies signed, just in case
the supply ran out. I dutifully introduced
Marv to my wife and son, nieces and nephews, sisters and brothers, including my
brother Joe. Soon came the throng of
Bills fans, lined up down aisles and snaking out into the parking lot! We signed over 400 books that night. The signing was scheduled to go until 9:00,
but we did not finish until after 9:30 … two and a half hours. As we were walking out, my brother Joe was
standing by the exit and said goodbye and thanks to Marv. Without missing a beat, Marv turned to him
and said, “Same to you Joe. It was nice
meeting you.”
Book signing event at Barnes & Noble in Amherst, NY.
That's my seven-year-old son Benjamin in front.
Wow … after more the two and a half hours, hundreds of fans
and 400 books signed, Marv remembered my brother’s name! That, I thought, was very impressive.
I will always cherish this episode in my writing
career. Working with Marv Levy was quite a
thrill! I was honored when he agreed to
write the foreword for my next book (“100 Things Bills Fans Should Know &
Do Before They Die”), which affirmed for me that he enjoyed the collaboration
as well.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Coach Levy!
