WBAL-TV Sports Director Gerry Sandusky spoke to alumni in Mason Hall on Wednesday about his new book, Forgotten Sundays: A Son’s Story of Love, Loss and Life from the Sidelines of the NFL.
Sandusky, a Towson University alumnus, is the play-by-play voice of the Baltimore Ravens. John Sandusky, his father, played in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers, later becoming assistant coach for several NFL teams and, eventually, head coach for the Baltimore Colts.
Forgotten Sundays chronicles Sandusky’s relationship with his father and his experiences growing up in an environment dominated by the NFL. John Sandusky was a coach in the league until Gerry reached his mid-30s.
“When you grow up in a certain environment, you’re not aware of how unique that environment is,” Sandusky said.
He realized as a Towson student that he didn’t fully belong in the world of sports. While he played football and basketball well into his college career, he was a third string tight end, an offensive position, on a D-II football team with only three tight ends.
“In basketball, I sat so far down the bench they called it the suburbs,” he said.
Although he wasn’t the best athlete, Sandusky discovered a unique gift for sports broadcasting.
“On the bus rides... I used to sit in the back of the bus, and I would do this make-believe post-game show,” Sandusky said. He would interview his teammates and narrate a recap of the game.
After one game, the head coach of his football team opted to end a game one player short rather than subbing in Sandusky.
“I knew that day if I was going to make so much as a penny in the world of sports I was going to do it talking about it and not playing it,” he said.
The book discusses the permeation of football in Sandusky’s life.
“Football was such a huge part of the fabric of my life that I’d always wanted to write a book to show people the parts you don’t see when the Sunday spotlight is shining on the field,” he said. “[But] this is a relationship book. And it’s about growing up in a unique world.”
He staged the book around three themes.
“The first is the value of a name,” Sandusky said.
Names are a relevant theme for a man who has been judged by those who mistake him for former Pennsylvania State University football coach Jerry Sandusky, the convicted child molester with whom he bears no relation.
“The second [theme] is how men teach boys to become men and how few words are involved in the crucial lessons,” Sandusky said.
He believes that his father is able to convey almost anything in a sentence or less.
Dick King, a coach, is an alumnus of Johns Hopkins who used to live near the Sanduskys.
“[John is] every bit of what [Gerry] was talking about. He was a good man. But he came up the old school, you know, he wasn’t making millions of dollars,” King said.
John Sandusky’s first contract as 14th draft pick, a position that today would be worth approximately $16 million, was for $5,000. His signing bonus was a steak dinner. He coached for six decades in four championship games and six Super Bowls. According to Gerry, football was a calling for John.
“The last theme [in the book] is Alzheimer’s,” he said.
John Sandusky died of Alzheimer’s at the age of 80, and this experience shaped Gerry deeply.
“I got to see this whole spectrum of my father’s life... from seeing your father as a monolithic figure who was the best dad in the world... [to] all the way at the other end of the spectrum as a completely frail, heartbroken, disappointed man who wasn’t sure what to do next with his life.”
Seeing his father with Alzheimer’s helped Gerry better understand the meaning of a name.
“Your name is your shorthand for your legacy,” Sandusky said. “Your name tells people whether you are a lighthouse or a courthouse. Your name tells people, when the tough decision came, did you make the decision that was best for you, or did you make the decision for everyone else? That’s what Forgotten Sundays is all about.”
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