Reviews

“I left Myers, and after two and a half years on the front lines, I came home and lived with the scars of war alive inside of me. So many others never came home.”

“Honor, respect, and devotion to duty are the core values of the Coast Guard Academy. Coach George gives you a glimpse of what it’s like to be a coach, father, husband, and son. Great book and outstanding read.”

“A memoir that is at once a dying father’s and a son’s, a wife’s and a daughter’s. Filled with moments that break your heart and others that send your soul skyward, in Home Fields, Bill George paints a delicate tribute to his family, to the game of football, to the boys he inspired and that inspired him, and to a generation that sacrificed everything.”

“As the last words of Home Fields jumped off the page, I closed the book and sat in a dark room by myself with tears in my eyes. I have admired Bill, or ‘Monker’ as I have called him, for over fifty years; now my admiration turned to great love and immense respect. Home Fields is a must-read for anyone who has been or will become a caregiver, a fan of college football, a veteran, a student of history, or anyone who is faced with challenges they may not understand. COVID robbed me of attending my own father’s funeral, a man just like Casper, gentle, humble, loving and close to God. Home Fields allowed me to finally and properly mourn my dad’s passing, and for that I will be forever grateful to this extraordinary work. Bravo, Monker!!”

“I’ve had the honor of being a hospice RN for twenty-eight years. This memoir illuminates with stark honesty the tenderness, poignancy, and struggles of caring for a loved one at the end of life. As you read, timeless gifts are seared into your heart as childhood memories of love and loss are shared.”

“Home Fields is a must-read story about how family history shapes the life of a father, son, and college football coach and the enduring love of family in the most challenging situations. Coach Bill George served as a positive mentor that influenced and shaped hundreds of leaders in the United States Coast Guard.”

“As a former Coast Guard Academy football co-captain and former commandant, I have had many occasions to speak with Bill George and talk to his football teams. Bill has always understood that sports at the Coast Guard Academy become a metaphor for service as a Coast Guard officer. The discipline and teamwork required to compete on athletic fields becomes operative when a boarding officer leads a team boarding a drug-laden boat or positions a helicopter for a hoist to save a life. In Home Fields, Bill has created a very personal, intergenerational link that is framed by selfless service to the nation. He also effectively captures the human dynamic within families who shoulder the burden of taking care of each other while meeting the day-to-day challenges of their profession. These are timeless lessons in life, and Bill teaches us all.”

“Bill George’s Home Fields provides all readers with an emotionally compelling story whose core reflects selfless commitment to family, faith, and country. He brilliantly shares his broad personal experience in roles as leader, coach, teacher, proud patriot, husband, father, and caregiver; Bill reverently and respectfully illustrates to us timeless life values of love, humility, and sacrifice; this multigenerational narrative also shows us genuine empathy for community, courage, perseverance, tragedy, illness, and loss. Home Fields is inspiring and deeply heartfelt!”

“From beginning to end, Coach Bill George crafts a beautifully written, compelling story of compassion and courage that will leave readers yearning for more. This deeply sensitive, inspiring novel artfully maneuvers between the past and the present, providing a poignant view into the personal lives of Syrian immigrants—real people who struggled to fulfill their hopes and dreams in a world that wasn’t always fair. Home Fields is more than a story; it’s a highly relatable, personal testimony to strength of character that takes the reader on an emotional journey of self-discovery.”

Home Fields by Bill George is a montage of space, time and memories. In this ambitious work, two memoirs are told, one in the present, and one in the past. George shares his very personal struggles of balancing family life, which include caring for his father, Casper, who has dementia, alongside the everyday ups and downs of being a football coach, weaving throughout the work poignant memories of his father’s World War II experiences. There are subtle lessons to be gleaned from the ups and downs of being a football coach, highs and lows played out on the field reflected in the family’s present struggles, all of which slide into stories remembered by his father from the past, who has his own struggles as he tries to make sense out of his increasingly confusing existence alongside clear and visceral memories of a by-gone era and lost and unfulfilled dreams. With “Unfulfilled Lives” as part of the title, one would anticipate that any feel-good take-away would be hard to find. But a tenderness comes through in George’s writing about  his daily life, and Casper's memories, made all the more so with the bridging of a generation between grandfather and granddaughter, and the opposite is true. George and Casper's devotion to and love of family shines brightly throughout, lending to a very “fulfilling” story line. And any family dealing with the challenges of caring for an aged parent or grandparent will find George’s account highly relatable.