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US Mall 1 - Running for My Life: My Journey in the Game of Football and Beyond
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List Price: $25.95
Our Price: $13.00
Your Save: $ 12.95 ( 50% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: HarperEntertainment
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.332092
EAN: 9780061432644
ISBN: 0061432644
Label: HarperEntertainment
Manufacturer: HarperEntertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: 2008-11-01
Publisher: HarperEntertainment
Release Date: 2008-11-04
Studio: HarperEntertainment
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Heart tugging
Comment: I thought the actual story of the family was great. But the writing was a little rambling and included too many repeat stories. The story could have been pieced together a lot better.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Running for my Life
Comment: This was Really Awesome. I couldn't put the book down and finished it in just a few days. It was well written and really spoke to the heart of family, tradgey, love and the pain that you must overcome to survive. Warrick is and always has been a Hero of mine and this book just made it even more so. Thank you SO MUCH for carrying this book and getting it to me so rapidly. I bought some for gifts and believe they will enjoy the book as much as I did.
Customer Rating:
Summary: RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "WITH HOMAGE TO HIS MOTHER... WARRICK IS A TRUE ROLE MODEL!"
Comment: When the first page of the first chapter of a book takes the reader on a trip to *DEATH-ROW-AT-ANGOLA-STATE-PRISON-IN-LOUISIANA* you can be sure you're not at the beginning of a typical sports book! The author Warrick Dunn is assuredly a star football player in the NFL... and a former college All-American at Florida State University... and a first round draft choice of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers... and the twenty-second player in NFL history to rush for ten-thousand-yards in his career... and the owner of many more enviable statistics...
**BUT**... more than anything else in the world... Warrick is his Mother's son... and there is nothing in his lifetime that he's prouder of! Warrick's Mother was much more than a Mother to him... they were also best friends. Part of the dedication in the front of the book is to his Mom and other special individuals... but... the story that unfolds as the author shares the innermost secrets... hopes... dreams... and pain of his very soul... are all a testament of the impact that his loved and idolized Mother... had on Warrick... and through him... on the world.
Betty Dunn Smothers was a Baton Rouge police officer and a single Mother with six children. In addition to working fulltime as a police officer she also took on after hours security work at department stores, convenience stores, and football games, in order to survive as a single Mother of six. On January 7, 1993 while working an extra-duty security job at a Piggly Wiggly grocery store she was taking an employee to make a night deposit at the bank... and she was ambushed and shot and killed. Officer Smothers was Warrick's Mother. Warrick would never be the same. A senior in high school, Warrick had to become the Parent of his five brothers and sisters. Throughout the story that follows, which includes his college and professional football careers, Dunn had to carry the extra burden of making sure his family was safe, disciplined, and going in the right direction. When Warrick was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft and signed the lucrative contract that followed... he never forgot where he came from... and the lifelong stress and dreams that his deceased Mother had always carried with her... especially the dream of a single Mother to get a nice home for her kids. His first NFL coach was a devout-spiritual-man, Tony Dungy. Tony told him that one of the first things he should do is make a commitment to helping the community. Warrick had already had that desire, but hadn't really found the right vehicle that would make him feel complete. Then... because of his never-ending thoughts of his Mother... he devised a way to help deserving single Mom's down on their luck.
"IT HAD TAKEN A WHILE, BUT I'D REALIZED MY DREAM. I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO TRANSLATE MY TALENT ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD INTO SOMETHING TRULY MEANINGFUL FOR HARD-WORKING, DETERMINED PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T WANT A HANDOUT, BUT JUST NEEDED A BOOST. I KNEW THAT WAS WHAT MY MOTHER WOULD HAVE BEEN THE MOST PROUD OF: NOT MY RECORDS, NOT MY AWARDS, BUT THE WAY I USED MY WORLDLY SUCCESS TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK."... "AND THAT'S HOW *HOME-FOR-THE-HOLIDAYS* GOT ITS START." "TO DATE, *HOMES-FOR-THE-HOLIDAY* HAS HELPED 77 FAMILIES WITH 201 CHILDREN IN TOTAL. THE WARRICK DUNN FOUNDATION NOW HAS THE CAPACITY TO SPONSOR TEN HOMES ANNUALLY." Warrick assists with the down payment, along with everything imaginable a new homeowner would need to start a dream of living in a house they couldn't have afforded otherwise... everything from furniture... to a refrigerator... to food in the refrigerator... lawn mowers... even flowers and a toothbrush.
The author has come a long way from the awful night he lost his Mother in a brutal murder... and on October 23, 2007 Warrick sat face-to-face on death row with the man who killed his Mother and best friend... and asked why?
Warrick Dunn is an absolute role model in any way you care to define it. Today... and everyday... since his Mother left this earthly world... he is making her proud... and also making the world a better place.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Compelling Story Poorly Written
Comment: As one who is a huge Warrick Dunn fan, and who has closely followed him through his collegiate and profesional career, I was eager to read his autobiography. For those few who do not know, Dunn's mother, a police officer, was shot to death in a botched robbery when he was eighteen years old. He basically had to subsume his grief and be a parent to all his younger siblings, while playing college football and well into his pro career. If that is not enough every one who has coached him figured him to be a "situational" running back because of his size. He is listed at 5'7 and 180 pounds (that would be in elevator heels and dripping wet). He has had to fight to be a featured back, and as of this review he is among the top 20 running backs in the history of the NFL, and is probably bound for the hall of fame. He has also become a leading philanthropist. The core of the book is how Dunn dealt with his personal demons through all of this, and that I won't give away.
Despite such a remarkable life lived in his mere 33 years, the book is a clear cut and paste job, and the writer he brough in to help him out or perhaps ghost write it, did him no service. Not only is the chronology inexplicable, there are instances in which he repeats himself. Its a fast read, but not a particularly good one, I am sorry to say.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Heart tugging
Comment: I thought the actual story of the family was great. But the writing was a little rambling and included too many repeat stories. The story could have been pieced together a lot better.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Running for my Life
Comment: This was Really Awesome. I couldn't put the book down and finished it in just a few days. It was well written and really spoke to the heart of family, tradgey, love and the pain that you must overcome to survive. Warrick is and always has been a Hero of mine and this book just made it even more so. Thank you SO MUCH for carrying this book and getting it to me so rapidly. I bought some for gifts and believe they will enjoy the book as much as I did.
Customer Rating:
Summary: RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "WITH HOMAGE TO HIS MOTHER... WARRICK IS A TRUE ROLE MODEL!"
Comment: When the first page of the first chapter of a book takes the reader on a trip to *DEATH-ROW-AT-ANGOLA-STATE-PRISON-IN-LOUISIANA* you can be sure you're not at the beginning of a typical sports book! The author Warrick Dunn is assuredly a star football player in the NFL... and a former college All-American at Florida State University... and a first round draft choice of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers... and the twenty-second player in NFL history to rush for ten-thousand-yards in his career... and the owner of many more enviable statistics...
**BUT**... more than anything else in the world... Warrick is his Mother's son... and there is nothing in his lifetime that he's prouder of! Warrick's Mother was much more than a Mother to him... they were also best friends. Part of the dedication in the front of the book is to his Mom and other special individuals... but... the story that unfolds as the author shares the innermost secrets... hopes... dreams... and pain of his very soul... are all a testament of the impact that his loved and idolized Mother... had on Warrick... and through him... on the world.
Betty Dunn Smothers was a Baton Rouge police officer and a single Mother with six children. In addition to working fulltime as a police officer she also took on after hours security work at department stores, convenience stores, and football games, in order to survive as a single Mother of six. On January 7, 1993 while working an extra-duty security job at a Piggly Wiggly grocery store she was taking an employee to make a night deposit at the bank... and she was ambushed and shot and killed. Officer Smothers was Warrick's Mother. Warrick would never be the same. A senior in high school, Warrick had to become the Parent of his five brothers and sisters. Throughout the story that follows, which includes his college and professional football careers, Dunn had to carry the extra burden of making sure his family was safe, disciplined, and going in the right direction. When Warrick was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft and signed the lucrative contract that followed... he never forgot where he came from... and the lifelong stress and dreams that his deceased Mother had always carried with her... especially the dream of a single Mother to get a nice home for her kids. His first NFL coach was a devout-spiritual-man, Tony Dungy. Tony told him that one of the first things he should do is make a commitment to helping the community. Warrick had already had that desire, but hadn't really found the right vehicle that would make him feel complete. Then... because of his never-ending thoughts of his Mother... he devised a way to help deserving single Mom's down on their luck.
"IT HAD TAKEN A WHILE, BUT I'D REALIZED MY DREAM. I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO TRANSLATE MY TALENT ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD INTO SOMETHING TRULY MEANINGFUL FOR HARD-WORKING, DETERMINED PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T WANT A HANDOUT, BUT JUST NEEDED A BOOST. I KNEW THAT WAS WHAT MY MOTHER WOULD HAVE BEEN THE MOST PROUD OF: NOT MY RECORDS, NOT MY AWARDS, BUT THE WAY I USED MY WORLDLY SUCCESS TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK."... "AND THAT'S HOW *HOME-FOR-THE-HOLIDAYS* GOT ITS START." "TO DATE, *HOMES-FOR-THE-HOLIDAY* HAS HELPED 77 FAMILIES WITH 201 CHILDREN IN TOTAL. THE WARRICK DUNN FOUNDATION NOW HAS THE CAPACITY TO SPONSOR TEN HOMES ANNUALLY." Warrick assists with the down payment, along with everything imaginable a new homeowner would need to start a dream of living in a house they couldn't have afforded otherwise... everything from furniture... to a refrigerator... to food in the refrigerator... lawn mowers... even flowers and a toothbrush.
The author has come a long way from the awful night he lost his Mother in a brutal murder... and on October 23, 2007 Warrick sat face-to-face on death row with the man who killed his Mother and best friend... and asked why?
Warrick Dunn is an absolute role model in any way you care to define it. Today... and everyday... since his Mother left this earthly world... he is making her proud... and also making the world a better place.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Compelling Story Poorly Written
Comment: As one who is a huge Warrick Dunn fan, and who has closely followed him through his collegiate and profesional career, I was eager to read his autobiography. For those few who do not know, Dunn's mother, a police officer, was shot to death in a botched robbery when he was eighteen years old. He basically had to subsume his grief and be a parent to all his younger siblings, while playing college football and well into his pro career. If that is not enough every one who has coached him figured him to be a "situational" running back because of his size. He is listed at 5'7 and 180 pounds (that would be in elevator heels and dripping wet). He has had to fight to be a featured back, and as of this review he is among the top 20 running backs in the history of the NFL, and is probably bound for the hall of fame. He has also become a leading philanthropist. The core of the book is how Dunn dealt with his personal demons through all of this, and that I won't give away.
Despite such a remarkable life lived in his mere 33 years, the book is a clear cut and paste job, and the writer he brough in to help him out or perhaps ghost write it, did him no service. Not only is the chronology inexplicable, there are instances in which he repeats himself. Its a fast read, but not a particularly good one, I am sorry to say.
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