A pro football player who protests against the actions of his government, is shunned by the league establishment, and eventually winds up out of the game, working for social justice. No, it's not Colin Kaepernick; it's the 1960s NFL saga of a former St. Louis Cardinals linebacker named Dave Meggyesy.
A 17th-round draft pick in 1963 out of Syracuse, Meggyesy was a steady presence and reliable performer for seven mostly mediocre Cardinal seasons (save for a 1964 season-ending Bert Bell Benefit [aka "NFL Playoff"] Bowl victory over Green Bay) - when he quit at the height of his career, repulsed by a game he saw rife with problems and injustices, and a nation fighting an increasingly futile war in Vietnam.
In 1970, he wrote a bombshell exposé of a book called "Out of Their League" – a blistering assault on football and the institutions that enabled it - in which he detailed multiple ills of the game, many of which still exist today.
Racism, corruption, militarism, institutionalized violence, drug abuse, collegiate "amateurism," and the relentless inevitability of injuries and their lasting effects - blunt and searing insights that not only shocked fans of the NFL, but also shook up the broader 1970s sports establishment.
Still, at its heart, Meggyesy's memoir was also a moving depiction of his individual struggle for social justice and personal liberation, the contents of which were both ahead of its time - and as timely as ever.
Out of Their League - buy book here
