Bleachers

"Number 19 was a high school all-American, a highly recruited quarterback with a golden arm, fast feet, plenty of size, maybe the greatest Messina ever produced", the book mentions in its opening pages. When Neely was younger, he was out playing football with his friends and a man was watching him. After the game the man came up to Neely and said "You're going to play football for the Spartans. In [|1987], trailing 31-0 at halftime to East Pike, crippled by a broken hand, and without the assistance of legendary head football coach Eddie Rake due to an incident in the locker room at half time, the gutsy quarterback rallied the Spartans to a 34-31 victory for Messina's first state championship in seven years. The following season, his high school number was [|retired] at Messina. No number has been retired since. After graduation, Crenshaw received 31 scholarship offers and chose Tech, a fictional university. He received $50,000 for signing with the school. In the second half of the [|1989] [|Gator Bowl], Crenshaw came off the bench for Tech in the second half, threw for three touchdowns, ran for a hundred yards, and led a last-second comeback. As a sophomore, he was national player of the week when he threw for six touchdowns against [|Purdue University]. But against A&M later that year, he suffered a career-ending knee injury. “I rolled out, into the flat, saw an opening, tucked the ball and ran, didn’t see a [|linebacker] and I got hit out of bounds." Crenshaw left school shortly after the injury and drifted across the country. He now lives in the [|Orlando, Florida] area and is involved in the real estate business. He returned to Messina to deliver the [|eulogy] at Eddie Rake’s [|funeral] in [|2003]. Neely faces the question on whether he loves Coach Rake or hates him. He is in conflict with himself. Torn apart by his longing for glory days past, and the harsh reality of his now dull existence. In //Bleachers//, most of the 714 football players Rake coached in his 34 years at Messina High School returned to the town for his impending death and funeral. The players spend much of the novel retelling stories about the legendary coach, a man who was both beloved and reviled. Rake ended his career with 418 wins, 62 losses, and 13 state championships. During an unsanctioned Sunday morning practice on [|August 21], [|1992] , Scotty Reardon, a [[special teams player on the team, lost consciousness during a grueling run up the bleachers. He died of [|heat stroke]. Rake's brutal training methods were called into question, and the superintendent of education, who also was Reardon's uncle, fired Rake. In a letter revealed at Rake's funeral, the coach states the two regrets of his life were losing Scotty Reardon and for [|punching] All-American quarterback Neely Crenshaw at halftime of the 1987 championship game against East Pike.
 * Neely Crenshaw** (born [|1969]) is a fictional high school All-American [|quarterback], who was Messina's golden boy who was going to lead them to the state title.
 * Eddie Rake** was the fictional head football coach in [|John Grisham]'s football novel, //Bleachers//.