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Running for My Life: My Journey in the Game of Football and Beyond
by: Warrick Dunn, Don Yaeger

List Price: $25.95

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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours 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: November 01, 2008
Publisher: HarperEntertainment
Release Date: November 04, 2008
Studio: HarperEntertainment
Sales Rank: 10750

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:

NFL running back Warrick Dunn is truly one of the good guys in the world of sports. And in this revealing autobiography, written with New York Times bestselling author Don Yaeger, Dunn tells his incredibly moving, inspirational story of courage and determination in the face of devastating loss, a story that makes his achievements on the football field that much more amazing.

Warrick Dunn and his five brothers and sisters all idolized their mother, Baton Rouge police officer Betty Smothers. As the oldest, Dunn was the closest to her, and the man of the house. On January 7, 1993, while the single mother worked a second job as a supermarket security guard, Betty Smothers was ambushed, shot, and killed while making a bank deposit. Dunn—then a high school senior just weeks away from choosing among his college football scholarship offers—was devastated.

Dunn was only eighteen when circumstances changed and he had to look after his five siblings, but somehow he managed to enroll at Florida State and, in only his freshman year, help their team quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner and roommate Charlie Ward, win the National Championship for the 199394 season. And this was just the beginning of Dunn's successful career as a student athlete, which resulted in his selection to the FSU Hall of Fame.

Despite his modest size, Dunn's athleticism, incomparable drive, and personality convinced Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy to select Dunn in the first round of the 1997 draft with the twelth overall pick. During his career with the Bucs and, subsequently, the Atlanta Falcons, Dunn amassed five 1,000-yard rushing seasons, was selected to the NFL Pro Bowl three times, and became one of only twenty-three running backs to exceed the 10,000-yard career rushing mark. In 2008, he returned to the Bucs seeking to continue his success. But perhaps his greatest achievement during his time as an NFL player came off the field when he started a foundation called Homes for the Holidays, a charity that helps single parents become homeowners. To date, he has placed 74 single parents and their 192 dependents in fully furnished and outfitted homes in Tampa, Tallahassee, Baton Rouge, and Atlanta.

But there was one person Dunn neglected in his drive to help others—himself. He spent all of his emotional energy on his siblings and their pain, and never focused on his own. His only solace was the football field, where he truly was running for his life. It wasn't until a Falcons teammate suggested psychological counseling that Dunn began to battle the demons still haunting him from his mother's death.

Uplifting and thought-provoking, Running for My Life is the story of an athlete's drive to help his family and ensure that his mother's legacy and values continue—the story of what it really takes to be a man.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Heart tugging
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.

Rating:

- Running for my Life
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.

Rating:

- RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "WITH HOMAGE TO HIS MOTHER... WARRICK IS A TRUE ROLE MODEL!"
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 ... Read More

Rating:

- Compelling Story Poorly Written
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 ... Read More

Books : Running for My Life: My Journey in the Game of Football and Beyond