Deceptive Speed: Eddie Lee Ivery's Run Through Tech, Titletown, and Temptation

DECEPTIVE SPEED vividly tells the compelling, inspiring story of Eddie Lee Ivery's journey from a tiny ramshackle home with no plumbing, to a prestigious engineering university, to an NFL storied franchise--where he played for the team's venerated former superstar Bart Starr, who struggled to field a winning team as head coach. After two devastating injuries to the same knee, how did Ivery will his way to a 9-year NFL career? How did he become homeless? How did he climb out of his self-destructive drug addiction? Ivery broke almost every Georgia Tech rushing record, including his spectacular NCAA-record-breaking single-game 356 yards. His fingers were so cold they burned, the fierce wind whipped frigid air across frozen ground, and--nauseous throughout the game--he was the sickest he had ever been yet rushed for more yards than any collegian in history. In 1979, the Green Bay Packers picked Ivery in the first round and expected him to help restore glory to Titletown. One veteran said, "We couldn't believe how good he was." Living an exhilarating star athlete life, Ivery lied to and manipulated family and friends for years. The addiction program where he finally became clean began with a counselor saying of Ivery's many gridiron accomplishments, "Eddie Lee, we don't care who you were before." Only then did true recovery begin. Read more