Review of Nine . . . Ten . . . and Out! The Two Worlds of Emile Griffith by Ron Ross

Certain lives, in the right hands, can make for tidy stories. While celebrity status is a useful ingredient for a financially successful biography, the better authors know that the important stories are not guided by the marketplace. It’s the story that matters; if the story—the life being presented—can also be placed within a greater context, then the biography is able to breathe even deeper. Author Ron Ross has accomplished such an artistic breakthrough with Nine . . . Ten . . . and Out! The Two Worlds of Emile Griffith.

The double entendre title of the book is a less-than-subtle clue that the biography is going to be more than a sports chronicle. Emile Griffith is a legitimate legend of the boxing ring and among the most notable sports celebrities of the twentieth century, and Ross’s bio gives full credence to these points, but the author perceptively realizes that the depth of the story is not the celebrated prizefighter’s career; history has already recorded the name of Emile Griffith the boxing champion. The story of Emile Griffith dwells beyond the encyclopedias and videos. It’s a complex story, and it’s a story that matters.

Perhaps concerned with the treatment such a subject might receive from an insensitive publisher, Ross accepted the imprint of DiBella Entertainment for his emotional study of Griffith. DiBella Entertainment is a world renowned promotional firm specializing in professional boxing but not a book publisher, facts which should be considered if one notices a few inconsistencies in the presentation. There are a few too many typos present, and the style guidelines used for printing appear to be those of journalism rather than book publishing, but these are minor points that will bother only the editorial-minded among us. Most readers will be too engrossed in the story itself to notice, and DiBella should otherwise be applauded for entering the difficult world of independent book publishing with such a worthy title.

With Nine . . . Ten . . . and Out! Ross seems to be making sure that he is recognized as a prose stylist beyond being a sports writer or biographer. To this end he is even a little too poetic in places—which is an unlikely criticism to be levied against a book thematically linked with the manly arts—but ultimately it all works and Ross successfully melds the public life of a sports champion with the struggles of a warm and sensitive kid from the Virgin Islands whose profound intimacies are at great odds with the professional life of a boxing champion.

Emile Griffith, who not only authorized the biography but personally encouraged its honesty, is a fine human being with a story worth preserving. Ron Ross’s Nine . . . Ten . . . and Out! eloquently provides that preservation.

More info at the book’s web site.

Review by Phil Rice, Canopic Publishing