You booze, you lose
Pat Summerall will serve up readers with countless stories about his crazy drinking days with personal friends such as Howard Cosell, Tom Brookshire and (most notably) Jack Daniels. But the sobering revelations about his near-death battle with alcoholism, a liver transplant and discovering religion are the message that the Hall of Fame network NFL, PGA and tennis broadcaster would probably want you to take away most from his new book, “Summerall: On and Off the Air� ($24.99, Nelson Books, 240 pages), which hit bookstores this week.
“As you might recall, I entered this world a little twisted,� Summerall writes in the last chapter entitled “Amen Corner.� He was referring to the fact he was born with his right leg completely turned around and had to have a his rural general practitioner doctor break it, turn it around and reset it.
“It took a while longer than anticipated to get me completely straightened out,� Summerall concluded.
Summerall, 76 and doing radio games for the Dallas Cowboys, says it was he and Brookshire who “were living like we hadn’t a care in the world - or wives or families. It was a very seductive and hedonistic lifestyle that eventually took a toll on both of us. We were swept up in Boy’s Land. We had a lot of money and a lot of down time and we were usually traveling away from wives and family responsibilities. We had our dream jobs and we were determined to enjoy the fruit until we’d squeezed out every last drop.�
It wasn’t until Summerall’s body started breaking down because of the alcohol abuse, and he was given a new liver in 2004.
“God’s not through with you yet,� his minister told him after he continued to struggle with the notion that he’d been kept alive but someone else died - a 13-year-old junior-high student — and surrendered the vital organ. “You’ve got a lot of work to do. You can help other people.�
That help, as it turns out, is this book.