"Dianne Tittle de Laet, an accomplished poet and harpist, also happens to be Y.A. Tittle’s daughter. As a young woman, she was consumed by a passion for the ancient Greeks, their poetry, music, and values, and had little interest in her father’s violent “work.” Her sharpest memories of his celebrity years include watching her father get knocked unconscious by blitzing linebackers, clinging to his side as she moved with him through Times Square parting crowds of adoring fans like Moses at the Red Sea, and observing a woman named Barbara Walters as she rearranged their living room for a TV interview. It was only later in life, as the mother of a teenage quarterback, that de Laet began to think about football’s mysteries and came to appreciate the courage and special finesse which made her father – “Y.A.” – a sports icon.
This gracefully written memoir provides a unique perspective on America’s fascination with sports and offers an intimate portrait of one of the most charming of men – a storyteller par excellence, a southern gentleman, and a most improbably candidate for football herohood. Giants and Heroes will appeal equally to hardcore football fans and to any woman who has ever struggled to reach across the chasm between daughter and father."
Steerforth Press
…Y.A. Tittle has been brought to vivid, complex life, in his daughter’s meditative, generous, wise, wholly original book. In this questing, good-humored, heartfelt memoir, Dianne Tittle de Laet weaves curious and life-like tapestry of reminiscence and affection. The poetry of Pindar is juxtaposed with the efforts of athletes like Gifford and Robustelli, as the author uses all she knows to explore the dearest question: who is my father? What does it mean to be a family? How do we measure excellence? Why do we strive? Isn’t life, and love, mysterious, and grand?
Lives & Letters
“The Common Reader”
"Dear Dianne,
I am very much enjoying reading "Giants." You are quite a splendid writer. I guess it comes as naturally as your father's arm. I have still not formulated the final approach on the film, but I would like to talk to you in the future, when the time is right, and once the film "Nixon" opens. Best wishes to your Dad.
Regards,
Oliver Stone"
"…You did exactly what you aimed at, namely treating modern sport the way Pindar treated ancient athletics. And you did it very well! You stressed the personal, the physical, and the social achievements of the athlete – poetically, that is writing about the athlete the way other poets write about the lover, the friend, the saint. At the same time, you heroized the athlete the way Pindar did, namely by associating him or her with heroes in other fields. I hope your book will be both appreciated and imitated and I expect that you will continue to compose athletic odes on heroic champions."
Professor Antony Raubitschek
Professor Emeritus of Classics,Stanford, University
"De Laet, a poet, harpist and classics lover, draws on family history, interviews, poetry and her memories to record her father’s brilliants career, achievements, and pains….This well-written memoir will prove appealing….Recommended for public libraries."
Library Journal
“Dianne…has authored an unusual volume that is rich in memorable metaphors and explains her pursuit of the question: What constitutes a hero? Classicists will exult in the passages from Pindar and Martial, and all literate sports fans will love it.”
Publishers’Weekly
“I am a sports nut, an avid devourer of prose, and a Giants fan…When I first saw your book at Borders, I fumbled with the book a bit. I had minor trepidations about how the harp, Greek mythology and football would play together….As an Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics’ student, I read rather quickly. However, I found myself enjoying your book so much, that I decided to “ration” a couple of chapters every night. Both unfortunately and fortunately, I finished the book last night. The reason that is say fortunately is that it was a tremendous experience. I enjoyed every page. Your style took the usual trite football story and made it a wonderful piece of literature. The unfortunate parts is that now, unless you do a sequel, what do I read next?”
Coral Gables, Florida
“Dianne…has authored an unusual volume that is rich in memorable metaphors and explains her pursuit of the question: What constitutes a hero? Classicists will exult in the passages from Pindar and Martial, and all literate sports fans will love it.”
Publishers’Weekly
