We'll Always Be Pals: The Last Words of a Dying Father and a True Hero!

by Tom McManus

"We'll Always Be Pals" are the last words my father said to me before he died. The youngest of his six children, he taught me everything there is to know about how to be a man in this world. He should... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1598587684
• ISBN13: 9781598587685
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: Dog Ear Pub Llc
• Length: 283 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Great story of family love

What an interesting and fascinating book this former NFL player has given to the world. Tom's insight on his and his father's life is such an inspiration to any reader. Tom's father, Geno McManus, was a family man that enjoyed not only his family but also his football. Geno loved to coach and teach football and other sports too, but football was his love. Geno probably could have been an NFL player as Tom eventually became, but the war short-circuited Geno's career. When WWII began Geno and many of his college friends joined the military to fight a different battle than the ones he loved on the football field of play. Tom tells early in his book about the many times he got in trouble because he enjoyed everything, even the things he knew were wrong. Not the kind of trouble that was against the law (well, most of the time) but things that would irritate friends, neighbors, and schoolmates, but Tom, as his father had taught him, knew what to say and do to make things "right!" Geno's family had gone through the great depression and knew from his life and his parent's life how tough living could be to just exist. Geno was quite a boxer and golfer, and he enjoyed beating up on the best he could find. He wanted to go to college but the depression forced his parents into making him work because money was so scarce. Geno worked at menial jobs making very little in wages but every little bit helped. Eventually Geno worked in a bank and enjoyed his football and boxing on the weekends. Many a Monday he would report to work black and blue. Eventually Geno decided he had to go to college and enrolled at Rutgers and played football and boxed, being among the best at both. But, when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 Geno joined up not knowing if he would ever be able to go back to Rutgers. He was in his sophomore year when he left. He went through training and became a pilot of the monster "boxcar" B-24 Bomber. The book shifts to Tom at this point when he was finishing up his high school after very successful football years. His dad was his biggest critic knowing that Tom would get an earful even if he did everything correctly on the field. Tom Coughlin, the future coach of the new Jacksonville NFL Jaguars, was coaching at Boston College, the school Tom had chosen from his scholarship opportunities. Little did Tom know what a roll Tom Coughlin would play in his future! Geno had never talked about the war to his son. One day Tom brought up the subject and Geno opened up. Geno had flown many missions over Germany but one day was shot down and became a prisoner of war. Geno opened up to Tom his experiences from training, to actually flying, to the prisoner time, to liberation, and his return to the United States. Tom tells this period very well. I found myself tearing up as I read some of Tom's passages describing his dad and the relationship they had. They truly were "pals" in every family sense of the w

An extraordinary yet ordinary story of a man that was a hero in many ways

The story of Gene McManus is one that is simultaneously extraordinary and ordinary. It is extraordinary in that he grew up during the Depression and found it necessary to work to support his parents while still in his teen years. Gene did whatever was available, sometimes as a professional fighter, semi-pro football player and finally getting a college scholarship. However, when Japan attacked the United States, Gene patriotically entered the military, becoming a bomber pilot. His plane was shot down over Austria and Gene became a POW, surviving brutal conditions when the camp was evacuated in the winter as the Soviet Armies approached. For years his son Tom had no idea that his father had experienced such difficult circumstances. Gene's life is ordinary because it is one of hundreds of thousands of stories that American military personnel could have told about their experiences in World War II. Those men left their homes and families, went overseas and fought, killed the enemy and witnessed their buddies being turned into bloody goo. Yet, when they came home they picked up their lives, raised their families, never talked about it and considered it all as just something that had to be done. Tom McManus is the son of Gene McManus and this is also his story. He describes how hard he worked and how hard his father was on getting him to work. While McManus was a natural athlete, that in itself would not have been enough to get him into the NFL. It took some luck but the real reason was his enormous dedication to excel, something his father demanded. The best fathers lead by example and occasional harshness as they have the experience to understand that reaching the highest levels of success cannot be accomplished by ever being content, as that will not be enough. That is what Gene McManus did and it is clear on every page of this book that Tom McManus is grateful for everything his father taught him. This book is a combination of a personal story intertwined with a history lesson wrapped up in a lengthy motivational history. It succeeds on all those levels.

The Son of a Hero Does Dad Proud

How often do we hear "what is WRONG with the kids of today" or wonder and worry whether OUR children are growing up with proper values and respect? The fact that Tom McManus isn't a household NFL name outside of Jacksonville doesn't make this story any less compelling. I found this story every bit as rivetting as the Cinderella story of Vince Papale of the Philadelphia Eagles, and THAT story became a hit movie. I was only a few pages into this book and I couldn't put it down. "We'll always be pals" tells the story of two men, father and son, born half a century apart and with the cultural differences you'd expect, but with a bond and mutual respect that enriches their lives, and our lives by proxy. "Geno" McManus was a man of character and honor and a sense of how to treat other people. He grew up in the depression and became part of what Tom Brokaw calls "The Greatest Generation" - the Americans who won World War II (where Geno flew planes and was a POW), then rebuilt the country after the war. Tom was the youngest of the six McManus children - the football star golden boy, who starred in college, but thought his football career was over after two years of tending bar in Chicago. Unexpectedly, Tom gets another Papale-like shot as the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars (under coach Tom Coughlin) come into the league. Vince Papale was a journey-man like player, and although Tom McManus isn't a hall-of-famer, how much more amazing would "Invincible" have been if the football player in question was the starting linebacker in the AFC Championship game? (The Jags are still waiting for their first Super Bowl appearance...) But this book doesn't stop there. We see not only the bond and the growing between Tom and his father, we see the lessons passed on and the way they're applied to real life and Tom's interactions with his friends, wife and football family. We see from the title that Geno dies, but McManus brings us into his father's heroic intimate circle. This story is inspirational, but it is practically a relief to read a book by an athlete who is a productive member of his community and not a self-aggrandizing hot-head. Geno must STILL be proud. Well done, Mr. McManus. (Of note - you can still hear Tom McManus on the local Jacksonville sports talk show "The Rumble".)

We'll Always be Pals

"We'll Always Be Pals" is a book for everyone to enjoy. My husband snatched my copy to thumb though it and at midnight he was still reading. This was a surprise because he usually only reads news and technical computer books. Once I read the book I knew I had to buy some for gifts, there is something for everyone in the story. The main story is obvious about a heroic man and great father, and you told it beautifully. The history of your father's youth and war experience is something that I knew the history buffs and older generation in our family would enjoy. Once gifts were opened some of our "seniors" of Gene's generation were inspired to share stories about their experiences. Many of the we had not heard before. The story of your father's encouragement and what a powerful influence he was on your life was touching and inspiring. There are some great lessons for fathers and sons in Gene's way of fathering. And your own story, the insight to just how hard a man has to work to play in the NFL, makes you watch the game just a little differently. And of course for the romantics there was the love story of your parents and the precious was you told about you and Kristina. Again, something for everyone, told beautifully, sweetly and with open honesty. Your family can be very proud to have their story told in such a way everyone wants to be a McManus. Thank you for a really good read. Colleen Kogos