Both Sides of the Line: The Coach and the Mob Enforcer, the Mentor and the Murderer: The True Story of Clyde Dempsey

Description

"We all come in shades of gray, always battling back the smoke and shadows, but what happens when the darkness takes over, when what is done cannot be undone? Kevin Kelly's Both Sides of the Line tells the story of Jack Clyde Dempsey, football coach at a Catholic school in Bostonthe man who forever changes the lives of countless young men. He brings unity and discipline and a seemingly magic mantra to a group of inner-city boys for whom football is a means to escape the many challenges faced at home. With charisma and unrelenting determination, Dempsey insists on quickness, technique, and desire-what he calls "the holy trinity" of being a good football player-and converts a group of non-winners into believers. He also makes them into teammates who support and believe in one another. And while his team, his football family, quickly comes to respect him for his unwavering belief in their potential, the truth is, the storied and mythic nature of Dempsey's "dark side" has preceded him. While revered by the streetwise boys well before they ever lay eyes on him, Dempsey reveals an unapologetically street-tough temper, and his whispered-about dealings with the local mob are multiplied in the rumor mill of Don Bosco High. And when a teammate is paralyzed partly because of a Dempsey excess, linebacker Kevin Kelly begins to reconsider his faith in the game of football. And though Dempsey stays on as their coach, the ghostly memory of the crippled teammate lingers in the minds of teammates for decades. In the fall of 1974, with team morale at an all-time low, Dempsey's relentless drive for perfection leads his undersized charges to a championship seasonthe first and only title Don Bosco's football team will ever know while competing in the prestigious Catholic Conference. The crown becomes the motor for many a player's self-esteem and confidence as well as for their college and career success. For Dempsey, however, it only becomes the towering peak from which he will spiral downward, crashing in a blast of violence that, one fateful night, wipes away the life of a young patron, Edward White, in a Boston bar. A football coach who preaches God, family, and country, and the need to live a clean, drug-free life, allows his penchant for drinking and cocaine to finally get the better of him. Fleeing the scene with a gun and soon a false identity, Dempsey reinvents himself as Ronald Mior in Ontario, Canada and remains on the run from the law for ten years, even reaching the top rungs of "America's Most Wanted" list. This is the remarkable story of an unlikely team of winners from some of the roughest parts of Boston, and of the coach who both inspires and shapes them into believing in themselves, to achieve remarkable heights of lifetime success, as he himself self-destructs. This is Kevin Kelly's memoir about Jack Dempsey, the man who played on both sides of the line."

Kevin Kelly, a Massachusetts native, is currently Assistant Dean of Students at the prestigious Deerfield Academy, a boarding school founded in 1797 and located in Deerfield, Massachusetts.He lives there with his wife and his two daughters.

"Mr. Kelly's brand of storytelling is simply elegant. I felt as if I was in the room with him all the while through. At its core, this is a love story, rippling well beyond the realm of sports. Honest and hearty, Mr. Kelly offers the reader a caring lens through which we witness a complex and inspiring coach in Mr. Dempsey, an individual who gave all he had in life-both good and bad. After reading it, I was moved to strive to be a better man." -MAX WILLIAMS, SCREENWRITER AND ACTOR "An enjoyable, multi-layered memoir that brings the reader through the glory days of school football, Boston city life during the tumultuous 1970s, and the dual personality of a role model coach by day, and volatile criminal by night, who truly played both sides of the line." -JACK SHEA, SALES EXECUTIVE, HEWLETT PACKARD A wonderfully engrossing read about the authors journey of discovery investigating the dark side of his high school football coach and mentor, a dynamo who makes an indelible impression on the author and on us, the readers. -CLIFF CARLSON, PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF ENGLISH, SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE In this superb memoir, what we get is a deep look inside the effort, motivation, and precision that high school football, and really all team sports, require. -ED GALINSKI, ADMINISTRATOR, NUCOR STEEL A beautiful case study on the positive influence that adult mentors, however imperfect they may be, can unknowingly have on kids over a lifetime. -DOUG TIERNEY, PRINCIPAL AND COACH Delivered from the heart, Both Sides of the Line is a riveting account of a devoted disciples complex relationship with his tormented coach ... and a lesson about how a street-wise, inner-city boy selectively garners moral guidance from someone who turns out to be a sociopathic mentor. - JIM ANDREAS, NORTHFIELD, MA We all idolize most of our coaches, but we never really know what makes them tick. This book vividly demonstrates how one dedicated and devoted Don Bosco senior came to idolize a mentor and coach with a hidden dark side ... A must read, especially for football and sports fans ! -MARK NEMES, FULLBACK, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY "A vivid and clear portrait of blue-collar kids playing winning football despite marginal equipment and startlingly inadequate facilities. What holds everything together is the remarkable impact of Mr. Kellys inspiring coaches. I couldn't imagine the disappointment of discovering that a revered coach of mine wasn't who I thought he was. Now I can." -DAVID HARDY, ENGLISH TEACHER, CITY OF BOSTON Kevin Kelly is a master storyteller who draws the reader deep into the street dynamics of Hyde Park, Don Bosco football, and the aspirations of a young athlete who finds himself in the middle of a dark, crime-ridden enclave of Boston inspired by a larger than life coach and mentor. -JULIE WEBSTER, EDUCATOR