About this item
"When the 1905 football season ended, nineteen players were dead and countless others were critically injured. The public was outraged. The game had reached a make-or-break moment - fourth down and inches. Coaches, players, fans, and even the president of the United States had one last chance: change football or leave the field. Football's defenders managed to move the chains. Rule changes and reforms after 1905 saved the game and cleared the way for it to become America's most popular sport. But they didn't fix everything. Today, football faces a new injury crisis as dire as 1905's. With increased awareness about brain injury, reported concussions are on the rise among football players. But experts fear concussions may only be the tip of the iceberg. The injuries are almost invisible, but the stakes couldn't be higher: the brains of millions of young football players across the country. Award-winning author Carla Killough McClafferty takes readers on a bone-crunching journey from football's origins to the latest research on concussion and traumatic brain injuries in the sport. Fourth Down and Inches features exclusive photography and interviews with scientists, players, and the families of athletes who have literally given everything to the game. It's fourth and inches. Can football save itself again?"
About the Author
Carla Killough McClafferty is an award-winning author of nonfiction books and a public speaker. Her path to becoming an author is unique as her first career is as a Registered Radiologic Technologist. She began writing after the death of her young son, Corey, when she wrote her first book Forgiving God: A Woman's Struggle to Understand When God Answers No. Next, McClafferty turned her attention to writing nonfiction books for young readers McClafferty has written books on a wide variety of topics including George Washington, Marie Curie, X-rays, an American holocaust rescuer, concussions in football, enslaved people, and spies in the American Revolution. Her books have been recognized for excellence in various ways including starred reviews, Bank Street Best Books of the Year, IRA Children's Book Award Winner, NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book, ALA Best Books for Young Adult List, ALA Amelia Bloomer Project List, National Science Teachers Association Outstanding Science Trade Book, National Council of Social Studies Outstanding Trade Book, Colonial Dames Literary Prize, Doubleday's Crossings Book Club, and more. McClafferty is a popular public speaker and has been featured at national and international venues including Mount Vernon's Ford Book Series, CSpan 2 Book TV, Colonial Williamsburg, the American Library Association national conference, the National Science Teachers Association national conference, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the U.S. Consulate in Marseille, France. She presents both live and virtual sessions for teacher professional development workshops, and provides author visits and interactive videoconferences with students all over the nation Her books include:Spies in the American RevolutionBuried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington's Mount VernonA Short Biography of George WashingtonFourth Down and Inches: Concussions and Football's Make-or-Break MomentTech TitansThe Many Faces of George Washington: Remaking a Presidential IconIn Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian FrySomething Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium The Head Bone's Connected to the Neck Bone: The Weird, Wacky and Wonderful X-rayForgiving God: A Woman's Struggle to Understand When God Answers NoThe Life of David: Comfort from the Psalms
