Boy Blunder
Surviving the Playbook of Coach Dick Sheridan
Growing up in Greenville, South Carolina in the 1970s, Jon Sheridan had a front-row seat to greatness whether he wanted it or not. His father was the legendary Coach Dick Sheridan, whose teams at Furman and NC State made him one of the most beloved names in college football. His older brother Bobby was the smart, adored, golden child.
Jon was the other one. The backup. The boy who spent his childhood as the human remote control for the family’s 1964 RCA mahogany console, crawling across lime-green shag carpet at Deddy’s command.
Boy Blunder: Surviving the Playbook of Coach Dick Sheridan is the memoir of a man who grew up in the long shadow of greatness and learned to love it, laugh at it, and occasionally scheme against it. With sharp humor and deep affection, Jon recalls the rituals of 1970s Southern life: Paul Harvey on the FM dial, Garfield’s comic strip debut, Star Wars at the downtown Astro Theater, and the particular agony of being “the other Bobby” to everyone who knew his family.
Behind the laughter rests the deeper story of a family forged by football, legacy, and loss. When Jon stumbles upon a long-forgotten 1931 West Point letterman sweater worn by his great-uncle RB Sheridan — the Army player whose death on the field nearly ended college football in America, and whose mother’s grace under grief helped save the sport — he sees his moment. Returning this lost treasure to his father might be the one play no playbook could predict. The ultimate Hail Mary from the son who always needed one.
For fans of Friday Night Lights, Southern memoir, and anyone who ever tried to outshine an older sibling, Boy Blunder is a touchdown you won’t see coming.
