Football Family: The Story of Jim Algeo and the Rare Breed of Lansdale

Description

Come along for the ride with Coach Jim Algeo, his family, and the Rare Breed of Lansdale, one of Pennsylvania's most storied high school football traditions. In Football Family, readers are invited to join the nearly fifty-year journey as told by the fifth of his nine children. From her earliest memories as the child of a high school football coach, Bridget Algeo meanders through the celebrated career of one the state's most respected coaches, as well one of its strongest sports programs. Readers will meet the Algeos of Lansdale, as well as their big Irish clan and their highly successful football family, the Rare Breed. Driven by the "Faith, Family, Football" mantra of a young boy with a dream to coach high school football, this memoir describes a love story on which a team was built. With come-from-behind wins, miracle plays, Thanksgiving Day battles, quests for championship titles, and all things that bind fans of the unique experience that is high school football, Football Family journeys through more than four decades of lasting memories. As readers will discover, Football Family, more than anything is not just about football and family, but a story of faith.

Bridget Algeo is an avid sports enthusiast who, in Football Family, brings readers along for the ride that details the storied career of Pennsylvania High School Football Coach Jim Algeo and his wife Mickey. As one of their nine children, she learned the joy and value of sports from a very young age, and her particular interests included football, gymnastics, basketball, and lacrosse. A graduate of Ursinus College, Algeo was a member of the 1989 Division III NCAA National Championship Lacrosse Team. She later became a feature writer for the Philadelphia area's premier source of lacrosse news, www.phillylacrosse.com. Algeo, who has spent over twenty years in education, also enjoys movies, nature, photography, art, technology, and writing. She is the creator of www.rarebreednationllc.com, which maintains the legacy of the Rare Breed tradition she describes in Football Family and also features her blog highlighting the invaluable lifelong lessons of sport. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, and especially hanging out with her son and dogs.Mike Stern has written about, reported on and served as an in-game announcer for competitive athletics at the scholastic, collegiate and professional level in a career spanning five decades. Mr. Stern began his journalistic career as a sportswriter and columnist at The North Penn Reporter in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, where he covered Lansdale Catholic High School, Christopher Dock Mennonite High School and Bux Mont League high school athletics, in addition to the Philadelphia Flyers professional hockey and Eagles pro football beats.A native of Philadelphia, Mike relocated to Fort Worth, Texas in 1981 to become the Media Relations Director for the Fort Worth Texans, a minor league pro team in the Central Hockey League. During his 27 years in the Lone Star State, Mike covered Friday Night Football as a sideline reporter and color commentator for Time Warner Cable Sports Channel. He also served as Time Warner Cable's pre-game, post-game and intermission host during Allen Americans CHL and ECHL hockey simulcasts, as well as the halftime host for telecasts of the Dr. Pepper Dallas Cup youth soccer tournament.Mike has also called play-by-play for varsity athletics while working with high school student broadcasters on the NFHS or National Federation of High School Associations (www.nfhsnetwork.com) streaming video network, and has interviewed numerous student athletes and coaches on camera for Friday Night Glory (www.fridaynightglory.com). In addition, he has also covered scholastic sports for the Dallas Morning News.Mike is a graduate of Olney High School and Temple University ('73) in Philadelphia, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications.Mr. Stern and his wife, Colleen Higgins, live in Ocean View, Delaware. He is a substitute teacher in the Indian River (Delaware) and Worchester County (Maryland) School Districts, and he also serves as a public address announcer and sports broadcaster for Indian River High School athletics in Dagsboro, Delaware. His son, Jordan Stern, a former professional baseball player, is a successful business practitioner who lives with his wife LeighAnn in Frisco, Texas.