Life and career of david beckham - football legend, cultural icon

257 Pages·2014·3.516 MB·English

by  Reavis, Tracey Savell

THE LIFE AND
CAREER OF
DAVID BECKHAM
Reavis_WEB.indb 1 5/22/14 1:00 PM
Reavis_WEB.indb 2 5/22/14 1:00 PM
THE LIFE AND
CAREER OF
DAVID BECKHAM
Football Legend,
Cultural Icon
Tracey Savell Reavis
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
Reavis_WEB.indb 3 5/22/14 1:00 PM
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com
10 Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL6 7PP, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2014 by Rowman & Littlefield
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reavis, Tracey Savell.
The life and career of David Beckham : football legend, cultural icon / Tracey Savell
Reavis.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4422-2992-1 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-2993-8 (ebook)
1. Beckham, David, 1975– 2. Soccer players—England—Biography. I. Title.
GV942.7.B432R43 2014
796.334092—dc23
[B] 2014006799
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United
States of America
Reavis_WEB.indb 4 5/22/14 1:00 PM
To my dear mother, Audrey Corina,
to Chris, Cory, and Jordyn, my three loves . . .
and to anyone who struggles with
what seems impossible—keep kicking.
Reavis_WEB.indb 5 5/22/14 1:00 PM
Reavis_WEB.indb 6 5/22/14 1:00 PM
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
INTRODUCTION xi
1 BORN TO BEND IT 1
2 BECOMING A MAN UNITED FOOTBALLER 19
3 FOREVER RED 35
4 POSH LIFE 55
5 THE THREE LIONS 67
6 FAME, FORTUNE, AND FASHION 87
7 SPANISH KICKS 101
8 IN THE U.S. OF L.A. 113
9 L.A. TAKE 2 131
10 LORD OF THE RINGS 151
11 LEAVE A LEGACY 169
APPENDIX A: TOTAL CAREER STATS 181
APPENDIX B: CAREER MILESTONES 183
vii
Reavis_WEB.indb 7 5/22/14 1:00 PM
CONTENTS
APPENDIX C: BECKHAM BY THE NUMBERS 187
NOTES 189
RECOMMENDED READING 231
INDEX 233
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 237
viii
Reavis_WEB.indb 8 5/22/14 1:00 PM
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank the following folks for their contribution to making this book
possible:
Thank you to the staff at Rowman & Littlefield for your dedication to mov-
ing this project from idea to published book.
Thank you to my immediate family—Audrey, Lloyd, Tabitha—for being so
supportive, not just the past year, but always.
Thank you to my extended family—you know who you are—I know you are
in my corner.
Thank you to my treasured friends—Keri, Lily, Lisa, Marcia, Maxine,
Milagros, and Shelley—for being my cheerleaders and for taking my late-night
phone calls.
Thank you to my savvy research team—Kim Howard, Vicky Ndukwe, Debo-
rah Tague, and Candace Young—the details matter.
Thank you to my NY, DC, and BCN circle of friends—for helping me find
community with new faces and in new places.
Thank you to all of my colleagues in the sports and writing communities for
your advice and guidance—the lessons have been invaluable.
Thank you to all of my former colleagues at Communities In Schools—for
encouraging me and putting up with my daily, David updates.
Thank you to the helpful staff at all of the coffee shops that I worked from in
DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and especially the folks at Whole Foods Friend-
ship Heights, Maryland. I am truly, forever grateful for the Wi-Fi and a space
to write.
ix
Reavis_WEB.indb 9 5/22/14 1:00 PM