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64 - CAPE GAZETTE, Friday,
Book Nook
By Gerry Lore
Fifth Quarter: The Scrim-
mage of a Football Coach's
Daughter by Jennifer Allen
In the 1960s and 70s, profes-
sional football's most successful
and controversial coach was
George Allen. Year after year, his
Los Angeles Rams and Washing-
ton Redskins teams either won
championships or finished near
the top.
Allen was famous for his inno-
vations (special teams), his loyal-
ty to his players despite his harsh
demands and his fanatical pursuit
of the Super Bowl. His quirky and
cranky personality led to stormy
relationships with team owners
and management, the media and
some of his players, not to men-
tion his family. Though Allen
would seem to be an unusual sub-
ject of a tender and poignant book
treatment, his daughter Jennifer
has done just that.
"Fifth Quarter" is her wonder-
ful and candid memoir of growing
up with her eccentric and driven
father, outrageous mother and
three older jock brothers. This
beautifully written and surprising
book recalls her bizarre childhood
with her dysfunctional family and
Jan. 19 - Jan. 25, 2001
also provides a I
fascinating be-
I
hind-the-
scenes look at
the power bro-
kers who run
professional
football.
In particular,
she entertains
LORE
us with a witty
portrait of her Tunisian-born,
French mother who was the heart,
soul and glue of the family - a
chain smoking, loudly profane,
long suffering woman who kept
the family together while her ob-
sessed husband was gone six or
seven months at a time, pursuing
his goal.
With their frequent coast to
coast moves, she bought or built
the latest house, with moving
boxes stacked around the house,
unopened, until the next move.
The author recounts a number of
hilarious anecdotes of her moth-
er's furious encounters with team
owners, whom she rightly be-
lieved used her husband and re-
neged on their promises. She had
a particular dislike for two
wealthy and famous owners of the
Redskins, Edward Bennett
Williams and Jack Kent Cooke.
The Allen family also had a se-
ries of strained and humorous
feuds with their neighbors wher-
ever they lived. In a posh Wash-
ington, D.C. suburb, the neigh-
borhood association demanded
that they leave, constantly threat-
ening legal action, because the
boys and family dogs ran wild,
terrorizing the community. Of
course, all demands and threats
were simply ignored.
Growing up, the author wanted
to be a football player, but was al-
ways excluded from the all-male
sports related activities of her fa-
ther and brothers. All three broth-
ers went on from football to suc-
cessful careers; her oldest brother
George is the newly elected U.S.
Senator from Virginia.
Jennifer was the one closest to
her father and most like him in
temperament, with her loneliness,
lack of self-esteem and depres-
sion. She pulls no punches in dis-
cussing her rebellious youth, with
drug use, sexual escapades, and
parental defiance. For all his
nerdiness and ignoring of his fam-
ily, Jennifer depicts her father as a
far more interesting and sympa-
thetic figure than expected. He
was so focused on winning foot-
ball games that he would stress to
the family that in season, football
came ahead of everything, includ-
ing them.
A rigid perfectionist, Allen was
oblivious to all around him,
marching to his own drummer.
His family made him give up
driving because he would drive
Children's Beach House sets Franklin Institute tour
Space is still available for the
general public to join Children's
Beach House (CBH) volunteers
on their Feb. 6 outing to the
Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
The cost is $35 and reservations
and payment must be made by the
Feb. 2 deadline by calling 645-
9184.
While CBH environmental edu-
cation program volunteers work
throughout the school year with
children making field trips to the
facility on Lewes Beach, each
year they embark on their own
field trip to further their own
knowledge of environmental is-
sues. Included in the day's sched-
ule is attendance at an I-Max
screening about dolphins, the
creatures often observed in the
bay and ocean by visiting stu-
dents. And as program planning is
being expanded to include the use
of the new telescope recently ac-
quired by the Beach House, the
bus trippers will view a program
in the Fels Planetarium to ready
volunteers for sky watching wit h
the students.
The $35 fee includes bus, en-
trance to the Institute, the I-Max
theater and the planetarium.
Lunch may be purchased at one of
the two museum restaurants. The
bus will leave Children's Beach
House, 1800 Bay Avenue at 8
a.m. sharp and return by 6 p.m.
Craft
Continued from page 63
be selling tickets for the show on-
ly.
"We want to give everyone a
chance to see this terrific show,"
said Judy Dean, Possum Point's
newly elected president, "not just
those able and willing to purchase
dinner."
Tickets for the show only are
$12; for the show and dinner, tick-
ets are $29. They may be pur-
chased by calling 856-4560.
on the wrong side of freeways and
get lost because he was dreaming
up new football plays.
Because of ulcers, Allen sub-
sisted mostly on milk and crack-
ers. He was befriended by Presi-
dent Nixon and they exchanged
letters and visited each other for
years. Jennifer tells in sad and
vivid detail how after he was fired
by the Rams, he was ignored by
former friends and couldn't find
another coaching job. Depressed,
he moped around the house, wait-
ing for the phone to ring. After
landing the head coaching job at a
state college in California, he died
a year later at 73. Jennifer sug-
gests that his death was brought
on after his players doused him
with ice water to celebrate their
season-ending win, and he caught
pneumonia.
Shortly before he died, Allen
told his daughter that all he ever
wanted to do in life was coach
football. "Fifth Quarter" is a per-
ceptive, bittersweet and delightful
story of a young girl coming of
age with her unusual family and
father, the coach. It is available at
local public libraries.
Gerry Lore retired to Rehoboth
Beach in 1996following a career
with Hoffmann-LaRochelnc. He
is a graduate of Purdue Universi-
ty and Harvard Graduate School
of Business.
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Regular menu also available.
Limited Seating • Reservations Suggested
Free Split of Champagne to Every Couple
with advance reservations
Saturday & Sunday Brunch
10:30 - 2:30 * $12 per person
Voted "Best Brunch at the Beach"
Dinner Special Thursday - Sunday
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