Eddie Rake was a man of accomplishments, defeat, and an overall legend. He was responsible for the fame brought to the town of Messina and the football players that he coached. The success he achieved through his football career was the most crucial point of bringing Messina back on the map. The town had turned into a stir of excitement and the players were the social highlights after Coach Rake. These players had to battle though extreme conditions with their coach, who was the “dictator of the
Messina’s greatest coach. Randall Scott Reardon was the one known as “The wrong kid that died”. It was not his social status of being a Spartan that opened eyes but his parents. To everyone Scotty was just another player that would be forgotten in a few years if not sooner. All it took to be remembered was to give his last breath at the hands of Messina’s greatest coach and not for his effort but being the reason Eddie Rake lost his job. After abusing players for years, Coach Rake’s time finally
you,” she accepts her past (Grisham 178). If one does not accept their past, then one cannot move on successfully with their future. Fifteen years later, Neely Crenshaw finally decides to return to his home town of Messina when his former football coach is on his death bed. He has regrets, hesitations, and second thoughts of coming home. It seems as if he doesn’t want to see old friends, “Maybe I don’t want to see them,” or to relive old memories (Grisham 19). Something is holding him down. He doesn’t
It all began with Eddy Rake. The tradition and the separation in Messina began with Rake. When Rake was hired as head football coach of the Messina Spartans, he began his rise to becoming a hero and the descent to becoming a villain. He began a game of chest by setting the board the way he wanted it. Rake’s football program not only put football first, but did not allow for any other contenders. One either was or was not, a have or a have not. Cameron, Screamer, and Neely all took different
was retired, when he was Paul’s best man, and when Coach Rake died). He has fallen from being the perfect All-American and cannot face the town he used to love and call home. Even when Neely is talking to friends he still has to be the All-American they knew. As he left the bleachers “he turned too quickly and the knee almost collapsed” (Grisham 60). He may have gotten this reasoning from Eddie Rake. It was not until he was on his death bed that Rake