Looking for Daylight: An American Football Life
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2026
Pages: 302
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2026
Pages: 220
Choose Your Format
$22.99 USD
Ebook
$12.00 USD
Since the creation of what we now call American football, millions of Americans have pulled on helmets and shoulder pads—or gathered in a backyard on Thanksgiving Day—to play a game unlike any other. While only a tiny fraction has reached the National Football League, the stories of the countless people whose lives have been shaped by football are every bit as meaningful.
In Looking for Daylight, Jack Chambless takes readers on a heartfelt 50-year journey from the muddy and snow-covered neighborhood fields of Hugo, Oklahoma, to his days in high school football, where he played under legendary coach Paul Bell—who also coached the famed Selmon brothers and future CFL quarterback and Congressman J. C. Watts.
Along the way, Chambless shares his lifelong passion as a devoted fan of the Bob Griese, Larry Csonka, and Dan Marino-led Miami Dolphins, the Oklahoma Sooners, and his eventful, memorable time as an NFL sports agent, before experiencing the game from its most rewarding perspective: watching his two sons star on Florida's high school football fields.
Filled with humor, nostalgia, life lessons, triumph, heartbreak, and unforgettable characters, Looking for Daylight celebrates football not simply as a sport, but as a force that shapes families, friendships, and lives. Whether you played the game, coached it, cheered from the stands, or simply love a great coming-of-age story, this memoir will remind you why football leaves a lifelong mark on those who experience it.
Jack Chambless is an economics professor in Orlando, Florida, where he has taught since 1991. He is a former contract advisor with the National Football League Players Association who has written extensively on the business of professional and college sports and has appeared on numerous national television and radio broadcasts. He was a running back for the Hugo (Oklahoma) Buffaloes from 1981 to 1983, where he played for legendary coach Paul Bell, a member of the Oklahoma Coaches Hallof Fame who coached the famous Selmon brothers before they went on to the University of Oklahoma and the NFL.
Since the creation of what we now call American football, millions of Americans have pulled on helmets and shoulder pads—or gathered in a backyard on Thanksgiving Day—to play a game unlike any other. While only a tiny fraction has reached the National Football League, the stories of the countless people whose lives have been shaped by football are every bit as meaningful.
In Looking for Daylight, Jack Chambless takes readers on a heartfelt 50-year journey from the muddy and snow-covered neighborhood fields of Hugo, Oklahoma, to his days in high school football, where he played under legendary coach Paul Bell—who also coached the famed Selmon brothers and future CFL quarterback and Congressman J. C. Watts.
Along the way, Chambless shares his lifelong passion as a devoted fan of the Bob Griese, Larry Csonka, and Dan Marino-led Miami Dolphins, the Oklahoma Sooners, and his eventful, memorable time as an NFL sports agent, before experiencing the game from its most rewarding perspective: watching his two sons star on Florida's high school football fields.
Filled with humor, nostalgia, life lessons, triumph, heartbreak, and unforgettable characters, Looking for Daylight celebrates football not simply as a sport, but as a force that shapes families, friendships, and lives. Whether you played the game, coached it, cheered from the stands, or simply love a great coming-of-age story, this memoir will remind you why football leaves a lifelong mark on those who experience it.
Jack Chambless is an economics professor in Orlando, Florida, where he has taught since 1991. He is a former contract advisor with the National Football League Players Association who has written extensively on the business of professional and college sports and has appeared on numerous national television and radio broadcasts. He was a running back for the Hugo (Oklahoma) Buffaloes from 1981 to 1983, where he played for legendary coach Paul Bell, a member of the Oklahoma Coaches Hallof Fame who coached the famous Selmon brothers before they went on to the University of Oklahoma and the NFL.