RASHAD: Vikes, Mikes and Something on the Backside

Ebony, Feb, 1989

RASHAD: Vikes, Mikes and Something on the Backside (Viking, $18.95) is former NFL wide receiver Ahmad Rashad's attempt to muscle into the crowded field of autobiographies by sports luminaries. In typical wide receiver fashion, however, Rashad is positioned to break away from the pack.

His is not quite the typical rags-toPorsches-football success story, largely because Rashad was not your typical football player. "I was never the type to take the ball home and sleep with it just because the coach told me to do it," he writes. No, Rashad was always something of a quiet maverick. His independent spirit shines through in his book, co-written by Peter Bodo, a contributing editor for Tennis magazine.

The book traces Rashad's life from his childhood in Tacoma, Wash., to his college career at the University of Oregon, to his 11 seasons in the NFL, particularly his six-year stint with the Minnesota Vikings. Rashad also offers a detailed look at his life off the gridiron. He writes candidly about his broadcasting career, his daring on camera proposal to his TV star wife, Phylicia, and of the subtle form of racism practiced by most White sports writers and broadcasters.

Rashad is an intimate and insightful look at the worlds of professional football and broadcasting written by one of the best practitioners of both.