Jocks In Chief. John Finkel.

Jocks In CHIEF.   Jon Finkel. 

From Football Stars and Brawlers, To Feats of Strength and Iron Butt, A Complete Ranking of the Most Athletic Presidents of the United States.  

Jon Finkel has authored many books over the past ten years but he also is a known fitness enthusiast and buff as well.    So, Finkel, the author of The Athlete (FSU phenom Charlie Ward) decided to investigate, evaluate and rate the athleticism and fitness levels of all presidents of the United States.   Along the way, Finkel also provides some interesting anecdotes about all of these esteemed men and politicians.   As the reader navigates their way through the 130 pages or so they will see that not all presidents are created equal.   In fact, while some ratings were impressive, other ratings were downright embarrassing for a few of the former leaders of the free world.  

The book, as noted on the back cover, is skillfully broken into two categories.   Part I is the “off the ballot” section.   This part of the book is where we find the presidents that rated in the lower half.   Part II is labeled “The Contenders”.   As you may have guessed, this is the section of the book where the skill level and general athleticism of the presidents were in the top half of all those evaluated for this book.   Even the categories within each part are amusingly titled.   For instance, the first chapter of part 1 is titled Commanders in…..Beef.   As we can imagine some leaders were not exactly physical specimens during their time in office.   On the other hand, one of the clever chapter titles in part 2 is simply penned as Fit for Office.   The author does not delve into the mental health of any of the head of states but a sharp look at physical fitness is what drives this book.   

One may wonder how Finkel rated all 40 some presidents for this book.    The author invented a systematic rating scale known as the President Athlete Score (PAS).    Within this system the presidents were judged on Executive Power, Running Ability, Weighs and Means, Executive Experience, and Mettle of honor.   Each area could be awarded up to 5 points or 25 total points.   Spoiler alert:   Most of the men assessed for this book did not come close to the highest marks in any of the categories.

Now, Finkel did not really give a lot of rationale and/ or explanation behind the 5 category ratings for each the president.   The reader is left to assume and trust that the authors evaluation is reasonable.   In addition, each elected head of country was only given about two pages worth of write up and content.  The ratings can be a bit harsh but this book is humorous and the author was just being fair and honest in their ratings.   An example of one Chief’s exercise habit was described as “sometimes”.   For several of the 19^th century presidents their “sport” including poker, drinking, soldiering and at least one had “none” as their entry.    However, some of the Jocks in Chief were accomplished athletes and engaged in surprisingly adventurous activities such as Boxing, Martial Arts, dueling, wrestling and even brawling for one particular leader.     One president was given credit for combining two sports, tennis and volleyball, affectionately known as Hoover ball (named after Herbert Hoover) during his ill-fated one term tenure.

While the purpose of this light book was to take a quick look at how the POTUS’s of past and current rate athletically, the book leaves out some key information about each leader that could have been useful and perhaps even enhance the value of this publication.    Finkel does include height and weight for each president but could have also included their term years served as well as their age, political party and perhaps even their view of fitness and sports.   What is more is that the pages devoted to the particular president were just too short.   So much more could have been included about each leader without getting too far off topic.  

This is a fun and easy book to read and navigate.   It was meant to be interesting, light and humorous and it achieves that status on all three levels.    Some of the ratings may surprise the reader.   Not all “modern” presidents fared well in the ratings.  Some leaders were remarkably nonathletic or disinterested in engaging in physical activity.   Finkel has a flare for nearly calling them all out in his own way.  However, despite all of that glitter and creativity, the content is likely too brief and likely leaves the writer wanting more and imagining all that that could have been included.      

·         You might like to read this book if you enjoy reading about presidents of the United States.

·         You might like to read this book if you seek fitness and health habits of powerful leaders. 

·         You might like to read this book if you like reading about famous leaders and their unusual marks in history.  

 

Read more about the author:   https://twitter.com/Jon_Finkel