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What: “It’s Been a Pleasure: The Jim Finks Story”

Authors: Jim Finks Jr. and 10 contributors

Publisher: AMO Productions, Newport Beach

Price: $25

This 212-page hardcover book provides a close look at Jim Finks, who spent 26 years as an NFL general manager with the Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints. It also provides a look at the inner workings of the NFL. In 1989, five years before he died of cancer, Finks was three votes away from replacing Pete Rozelle as the commissioner of the NFL.

Jim Finks Jr., who lives in Newport Beach, spearheaded the book. He is the oldest of four sons and delivered the acceptance speech at Finks’ induction into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1995. Jim Jr. wrote three of the book’s 12 chapters, including the first two, which follow a foreword by the late Will McDonough and a prologue by Fran Albright, Finks’ secretary with the Saints.

The first chapter, “Canton Calling,” details Finks’ Hall of Fame induction. In the second chapter, “Maxine,” Jim Jr. focuses on his mother -- and Jim Finks’ wife of 43 years -- who died in 1999. Later in the book, Jim Jr. contributes a chapter on not always being the perfect kid and writes about the time, as a 13-year-old, he poured Tabasco sauce over his mother’s freshly baked chocolate cake. “After taking her first bite, Maxine -- as her sons called her -- gagged, spat it out and then cried.” Jim Jr. writes that he never saw his father as mad.

The family anecdotes offer levity, but the book mostly takes an inside look at the NFL and one of its most respected executives. Gordon Forbes of USA Today, one of seven sportswriters who contributed chapters, details Finks’ bid to become commissioner, which makes for fascinating reading.

Some of the proceeds from the book’s sale go to the NFL Alumni Dire Need fund and the Jim Finks Chair for Health Promotion at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. Details: www.NFLALA.org or jfjr19@aol.com.