As good as A Season On the Brink was as a starting point, David A.F. Sweet's biography of Lamar Hunt was a pretty good choice for the second book. It was published in 2010 and the writing isn't anything spectacular, but the broad scope of the subject matter covered introduced a variety of other topics that I want to explore further. Lamar Hunt is most famous for being the driving force behind the founding of the AFL, but he also was behind two soccer leagues (the NASL and the still in existence, MLS) and legitimizing pro tennis (WCT, the precursor and competitor of the current ATP). So while I enjoyed learning about Lamar Hunt's life and impact on pro sports in this country, it also gave me great leads on future stories to pursue including but not limited to; George Halas and his role in the early NFL, the opening of Wimbledon and other majors to professionals, the founding of the ATP as by the players for the players pro league, and Pele's time in New York.
For the book itself, it was interesting if not compelling. One of the most compelling parts was the revelation in the introduction that Lamar Hunt's father, L.H. Hunt, had three families in his lifetime. His first two were concurrent. It reminded me of the scene in Fight Club when Ed Norton or Brad Pitt (can't remember which one, but because of the ending, does it matter?) talk about how their father moved from city to city starting new families like he was opening franchises. Beyond that, Sweet doesn't really dramatize any of the key events, everything is laid out somewhat chronologically. I don't want the author to make it melodramatic, but events tend to unfold very quickly with cursory descriptions of any difficulty, but Lamar Hunt was known for his persistence so he wore his opposition down. It might have helped to hear from the perspective of those who were opposing him, either to own an NFL franchise, start his tennis circuit, etc. Generally the only way the opposition is characterized is as corrupt or ridiculous in their position, which I find hard to believe. Why did the NFL, MLB and NHL refuse Hunt a franchise? It could have been his youth and inexperience, but then why when Hunt announced his plans for a Dallas AFL franchise, did the NFL immediately stick the Cowboys in Dallas with another owner? I find it hard to believe that he didn't have more personality flaws or those league's didn't have concrete reasoning for doing that.
Also, part of the problem I had with the book was that I was unconvinced that there was something special about Hunt besides hit billions of dollars. Couldn't just about any super sports fan do what he did if they had an inexhaustible amount of money? He basically took a bath with the NASL and the WTC (not to mention the early portion of the Dallas Texans/KC Chiefs). He just was too big of a fan to give up because he was losing massive amounts of money. Then since he didn't have to work, he could attend massive amounts of sporting events and cherry pick the best ideas/features of other sports/arenas/leagues/etc. So as cool as it was to read about some of the history of the NFL, Soccer and Pro Tennis in this country, I didn't feel like Lamar Hunt was some particularly unique individual for all of this to come together. That being said, I did enjoy the humble persona they described. The billionaire who would rather sit in the upper deck and treated everyone with respect is an entertaining idea.
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