Duane Thomas and the Fall of America's Team

This attempt to combine two stories in one fails utterly. The title implies, although the text nowhere suggests, that there is a relation between the fate of running back Thomas and the decline in the fortunes of the Dallas Cowboys. Thomas, when he appeared on the professional football scene in 1970, was acclaimed as an outstanding player but within two years was stigmatized as an ``emotionally disturbed misfit,'' largely because of his periods of total silence. With coauthor Zimmerman, a freelance writer, Thomas attempts to show why that classification was unfair, and excerpts from his journal depict a disillusioned idealistbut at a remove of almost two decades, few will care. The decline of the Cowboys is clearly a result of a series of complex factors, having nothing to do with any individual player. Photos not seen by PW. (October)