Third and Long: A Novel for Hard Times

by Bob Katz

Overview

Can the handsome, haunted stranger with a mysterious past save the soul of a dying Midwest factory town?

"This novel is so good-hearted, so life-affirming, it's a joy to read...

-Mary Ann Grossman, St. Paul Pioneer Press

Meet Nick Remke, a damaged former Notre Dame football star desperate for a job and maybe redemption.

It's 1997. Longview, Ohio, U.S.A. Nick finally gets his chance when he's hired to run Made Right, a family-owned clothing factory severely threatened by offshore competition. The entire town depends on the fragile fortunes of the overworked factor. All eyes now turn to Nick .

Marie Zanay is among them. A single mother whose son stars on the Longview High football team, she's spent a lifetime rooting for her hometown and is acutely aware of the overwhelming odds against it. Still, Marie is forced to admit that Nick the newcomer suddenly has the townsfolk feeling inspired. Is that hope misplaced, or is it possibly real?

For Nick, it's been a long, winding, rocky road filled with disappointment and doubt. Becoming MVP of a small town on the Ohio River was never his goal . . . until it became his dream.

Third and Long is the saga of a vanishing America hanging by a thread, with perhaps just enough time remaining for one last hail-Mary. Think Friday Night Lights meets It's A Wonderful Life.

With a cast of characters both unforgettable and strikingly familiar, Third and Long takes you on a poignant, emotional journey across an iconic American landscape.

"Third and Long is an American classic. It's a story about hope and possibilities, crumbled dreams, and surprising redemption. I loved it!"

-Lynne Cox, author of Swimming to Antarctica

Get your copy of Third and Long today!

Third and Long is the winner of the Independent Book Publishers Association Popular Fiction award.

Bob Katz is the author of several acclaimed books, including Elaine's Circle, a non-fiction account of a dramatic year in the rural Alaska classroom of an innovative schoolteacher, the novel Hot Air, which was optioned by actor Michael Keaton and MGM for a movie, The Whistleblower, a nonfiction exploration of the world of college basketball referees, and, most recently, EZ and the Intangibles, a novel for middle readers. More at BobKatz.info.

"If John Steinbeck had known as much about sports as Bob Katz does, he would have been proud to have written Third and Long. Katz has offered us a smart, moving, beautiful and important book."

--E. J. Dionne Jr., syndicated columnist, NPR commentator

"A sly, lyrical novel (think Friday Night Lights meets All the Right Moves, only funny) . . . "

--Sports Illustrated

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780977791521
Publisher:	Trolley Car Press
Publication date:	06/01/2010
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.51(h) x 0.50(d)

What People are Saying About This

E. J. Dionne Jr.

If John Steinbeck had known as much about sports as Bob Katz does, he would have been proud to have written Third and Long. And if Tony Kornheiser or Michael Wilbon are looking for a smart sports book inspired by the emphathy and understanding that Katz feels for the people in our old industrial towns, they will turn to Third and Long. Katz has offered us a smart, moving, beautiful and important book. (E. J. Dionne Jr., syndicated columnist, NPR commentator)

Frank Deford

The handsome, laconic stranger with the mysterious past alights from the train in a small town, and . . . It sounds like the start of a western in stagecoach times, but it's really a mid-western in a global economy. Third and Long is an engagingly sweet tale of first impressions, second chances. (Frank Deford, novelist, sportswriter, commentator)

Lynne Cox

Third and Long is an American classic. It's a story about hope and possibilities, crumbled dreams, and surprising redemption. I loved it! It's inspiring, entertaining, and insightful. It's a book I couldn't put down! (Lynne Cox, author of Swimming to Antarctica and Grayson)

Editorial Reviews

Katz nails small-town life, communicating the vibe of the local pizza shop, the slow flirtation that brings Nick and Marie together, the tension attending the revelation of Nick's true story. The town itself narrates; that improbable device works.

ohioauthority.com

At its best, Bob Katz's novel "Third and Long" evokes the quirks and nuance of one of Jon Hassler's fictional small towns. The taciturn protagonist, Nick, limps off the train in Longview, Ohio, and ambles up to the Made Right clothing factory up the hill. A mysterious drifter, he's looking to land the plant manager's job -- a dicey proposition with Korean interests circling the factory, vulture-like.

Star Tribune

"This novel is so good-hearted, so life-affirming, it's a joy to read. Longview is a dying Midwest factory town that finds hope when a former Notre Dame football star becomes manager of the plant that is the town's biggest employer. But who is this stranger who also takes over coaching the high school football team? What Katz does so well is evoke the feelings of love the people have for their town and their close connections, even when the football team keeps losing. Katz clearly has compassion for all of his characters, and some of his descriptions of their feelings are so beautiful you'll want to read whole paragraphs several times." --(Mary Ann Grossman)

St. Paul Pioneer Press

Early on in this sly, lyrical novel (think Friday Night Lights meets All the Right Moves, only funny) we figure out that all may not be what it seems, but Katz (Hot Air) makes us root for his put-upon characters. And have you ever read that a placekick "lifted like a heron off a tranquil pond, in a perfect trajectory over the crossbar"?

Sports Illustrated

2021-07-19
A novel about a broken-down former college football player in need of redemption and a town seeking salvation.

Down-and-out Nick Remke arrives in Longview, Ohio, by train in 1997 and gets directions to Made Right, the town’s largest employer. The clothing factory is barely hanging on, buffeted by foreign competition. During his job interview, Nick meets administrative assistant Marie Zanay, who suggests that he play up his football experience. He tells the co-owners that he played briefly for Notre Dame and that his real last name is Nocero; he’d changed it to his mother’s maiden name, he says, after his dad left the family. The thrilled, football-crazy owners give him a plant-manager position that had been offered to someone else. Soon, Marie, whose son Brian is the star of the high school football team, and Nick grow closer. After the football coach suffers a stroke, Nick gets pressured into taking the job by his bosses, and the team starts winning. At the same time, Made Right’s fortunes rebound, and both the team and the rest of the townsfolk begin to believe that this stranger could save them all. Then an ambitious local sportswriter discovers unexpected information that changes everything. Katz, the author of The Whistleblower (2020), has created a setting in Longview that many readers will recognize: a struggling town that’s unable to adapt to a global economy. Nick, who’s in dire straits himself, does what he has to do to get one more chance to prove himself, and he finds the perfect spot in Longview, which is full of people still wanting to believe in something. The author shows how Nick and the town’s residents help each other to grow and change, and his choice of an anonymous resident as a narrator, looking back at Nick’s actions, is effective, as he moves from being a skeptic to a believer before finally reaching a kind of middle ground. Also, Katz, a former sportswriter, manages to bring the quaint atmosphere of small-town football to life. Overall, it’s an endearing portrait of an abandoned part of America.

A well-crafted tale that offers readers hope in changing times.

Kirkus Reviews