Author Talk | Chris Serb - Eckie: Walter Eckersall and the Rise of Chicago Sports

Join us for an evening with Chicago author Chris Serb as he discusses his recent book Eckie: Walter Eckersall and the Rise of Chicago Sports (2025). Eckersall was an on-field football superstar whose athletics, sports journalism, and advocacy for Black athletes, long before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, all set the stage for impacting the relationship between sport and society that we see today. 

$25; $20 members.  

This program is part of CHM’s US at 250: Civic Action in Chicago efforts. Serb’s talk will include discussions of the ways Eckersall and sports generally can serve as vehicles for social change. 

About the author:  

A lifelong Chicagoan, Chris Serb holds a bachelor's degree in English from the College of the Holy Cross, a master's in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, and an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. Chris is currently a Deputy District Chief on the Chicago Fire Department, where he has earned several department, city, and state commendations over his 25-plus year career. 

In addition to writing newspaper and magazine articles, Serb has published several books including War Football: World War I and the Birth of the NFL, Eckie: Walter Eckersall and the Rise of Chicago Sports, and Sam’s Boys: The History of Chicago’s Leone Beach and Legendary Lifeguard Same Leone.