Back cover description Experience the remarkable journey of a boy from New York who begins life behind the eight ball. Growing up on the edge of poverty, he battles dyslexia and endures the pain dealt by an alcoholic father. From his single mother he learns grit, empathy, and selflessness. At age 12, when he is still torn between right and wrong, he is introduced to soccer. The Beautiful Game saves his life. It becomes his life. Never mind that outside his neighborhood, soccer is seen as an ethnic cult, a sport played by “candy asses” and people who do not speak English. Nothing dents the boy’s will. He follows his idol, Pelé, like a North Star. He dreams of becoming a pro. His dream becomes an obsession, his exit ramp off a road that would have left him “dead or in jail.” In his early teens, this lad plays for coaches who shape him as a player and a man. He struggles in school, but he has found his purpose. He plays or practices fifty hours a week. Some days he hitchhikes to games, other days he spends entire afternoons lashing balls off the brick wall of Cinema 45. No one will outwork him; nothing will distract him. Seven years after he first touches a ball, Tom Mulroy becomes a professional soccer player. And then, against billion-to-one odds, Soccer Tom experiences the dream of every soccer player and fan around the world.