Lombardi Dies, Orr Flies, Marshall Cries: The Sports Legacy of 1970 by Brad Schultz (review)

Brad Schultz provides a look at the gamut of sports moments in the year 1970 in his book Lombardi Dies, Orr Flies, Marshall Cries: The Sports Legacy of 1970. The book mentions several anecdotes of historically relevant moments throughout the year. With a month-by-month glimpse at different events, the book is ideal for the sports aficionado, particularly one who may have lived through the year and remembers the likes of Bobby Orr, Joe Namath, and Brooks Robinson. However, the book does not provide an in-depth academic look at the three themes indicated in the title of the book.

In the fourth chapter, Schultz explores the context of the Cold War “from space to sports” (60).This historical context seemed to find its way in many of the topics throughout the book and was a pervasive theme for people living in 1970. Schultz used the context to explain the importance of the battle between Bobby Fischer and his Soviet opponent in chess, but less so for other international events like the World Cup and the Olympics. These were dynamics that could have provided a stronger basis to the particular anecdotes chosen for the book.

As the book unfolds, it hits on several different sports. Here are a few: golf, chess, basketball, football, soccer, hockey, baseball, boxing, drag racing, formula-one racing, tennis, setting the land speed record, and, perhaps most confusingly, the story of Karl Wallenda (of the “Flying Wallendas” fame) crossing a 1,000-foot gorge in Tallulah Falls, Georgia (144). Each anecdote, including the colorful story of Pelé and the New York Cosmos (115) and the Brian’s Song story of Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers (115), provides feel-good moments for the reader that would be ideal for someone recalling living through this era.

Unfortunately the book’s chronological organization inhibits its depth of analysis. For example, the “Orr Flies” story covers approximately four-and-a-half pages (96–100), which is similar to the discussion that follows it on the International Olympic Committee’s debate over granting Montreal the 1976 Olympics (100–104). Had the key thematic moments of the year been the focal point of the book, including greater depth of discussion, it would have helped the book make a more persuasive argument. Schultz writes, “An argument could be made that 1970 represented a crossroads in America—a transition from the grim problems of the 1970s to the indulgent ‘me decade’ that was to follow” (233). That would have been a fascinating argument to see developed around the colorful characters of Vince Lombardi, Bobby Orr, and the players of the Marshall University football team.

If readers are searching for colorful anecdotes from myriad sports events in 1970, Schultz’s book provides wonderful trivial accounts with substantive primary source evidence. However, the lack of historical context and analytical depth makes it less than ideal for a serious look at sports theory or cultural history.