Ivy League football has long since seen its prominence decline on the national scene, yet it still acts to bind some families such as that of Timothy B. Spears. In “Spirals,” he crafts an intergenerational memoir that traces the junction of football and higher education in his own life and that of his father and grandfather. Granddad Clarence “Doc” Spears suited up as an All-American guard for Dartmouth in the early 20th century before becoming a Hall of Fame coach. Father Robert Spears captained Yale’s 1951 team. In the mid-1970s, Timothy also played at Yale with less distinction but plenty of enthusiasm. Today he is the vice-president for academic development and professor of American studies at Middlebury College in Vermont.
