Speed Kings

August 15, 2015
Guardian senior sportswriter Bull recounts the history of modern bobsledding and the four men who led the American team to victory at the 1932 Winter Olympics. The late-19th-century development of the automobile primed popular taste for speed in both the United States and Europe. At this time, bobsledding became a craze on both sides of the Atlantic. By the early 20th century, it had gone from an "enjoyable pastime" to an activity that caused countless injuries and many deaths. Bobsledding also became a sport that helped revitalize the moribund tourist economy of St. Moritz, a Swiss Alpine resort that opened the first bobsled track in 1902. As sleds became faster and more dangerous, the sport became increasingly popular among spectators and sportsmen looking for the ultimate winter thrill. Against this backdrop, Bull tells the story of four individuals-Billy Fiske, the speed-loving son of an American banker; Jay O'Brien, a New York bon vivant; Eddie Eagan, a champion boxer; and Tippy Gray, a silent film star-who became some of the greatest heroes of early competitive bobsledding. He interweaves the story of their exploits with the behind-the-scene intrigues and boardroom politicking that characterized the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics, the first to ever be held on American soil. Part of an international group of 52 bobsledders dubbed the "suicide club," the team went on to not only beat local Lake Placid favorites, but also break speed records and win the gold medal. The care Bull demonstrates in developing each of the figures in this engrossing narrative is almost novelistic, but this attention to detail also causes the narrative to digress too much toward the end, where Bull elaborates on the short post-victory life of daredevil team captain Fiske, who went on to become a volunteer fighter pilot for the British and die fighting the Germans in 1940. A flawed but well-written and entertaining sports story.

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Starred review from October 1, 2015

Sportswriter Bull's (The Guardian) debut tells the story of America's 1928 and 1932 Olympic bobsled teams, emphasizing the years leading up to and after the squad's triumphant 1932 performance in Lake Placid, NY. Bull's engaging narrative skillfully intertwines a series of entertaining and richly detailed portraits of the colorful cast of characters who became America's first Winter Olympics stars, notably young, ambitious adrenaline junkie Billy Fiske; boxer-turned-scholar-turned-bobsledder Eddie Eagan; and the most fascinating subject, shady socialite Jay O'Brien. The wide-ranging but carefully crafted account also documents bobsledding's emergence as a popular Depression-era pastime and presents how business schemer Godfrey Dewey, son of library pioneer Melvil Dewey, brought the Olympics to Lake Placid in an attempt to turn his remote mountain hamlet into the country's premiere winter sports mecca. Much like Don Bragg's A Chance To Dare or David Maraniss's Rome 1960, Bull focuses on the compelling stories surrounding the games, rather than the actual competitions. VERDICT Highly recommended to general audiences with an interest in Olympic history or who enjoy a well-researched and well-told true sports tale.--Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia

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