Local author talks football at Oblong

MILLERTON — Millerton resident and best-selling nonfiction author, Peter Richmond, read from “Badass: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death and John Madden’s Oakland Raiders,� his just-published book on the outlaw football team of the 1970s, on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 26, at Oblong Books. The crowd upstairs grew to standing room only as football fans arrived with questions for the author.

Why did he write the book?

Richmond wanted to record the history of the last football team to play “lunch pail� tough-guy football before the sport was homogenized and groomed for television entertainment with mega contracts for players. Richmond regaled the attentive audience with stories about the over-the-top drinking, guns and pranks of the most feared team in the National Football League (NFL). He emphasized the Raiders’ team spirit and tried to explain how much they loved playing together.

Who was his favorite player?

Definitely Phil Villapiano, who got his nickname, “Foo,� when he was so drunk he couldn’t say Phil. Interviewed for the book, the former star linebacker, now happily married and a very successful super salesman of container space, Villapiano said he still misses the game every day.

What about the coach?

 John Madden, now a TV sports commentator and video pitchman, had a better winning game percentage than Vince Lombardi and walked away at the top of his game.

“Madden gave his players enough rope to be themselves,� according to Richmond.

Richmond also managed to track down the very private Al Davis, the team’s owner, who granted Richmond a half-hour interview after he discovered Davis loved ’40s music and sent him a copy of his book on Peggy Lee.

A blog interview of Richmond is currently up on the New Yorker website, and a portion of the book will be excerpted in Sports Illustrated magazine. His previous football book with Frank Gifford, “The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever,� appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List. Richmond vowed that this is the last football book he will tackle for a while, and said he hopes to turn his talents back to music.

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