Description"This is a terrific book, a dramatic Family saga told in artful prose and filled with emotional turmoil, a few surprisingly touching moments but enough dysfunction for a couple of Eugene O\'Neill plays." --Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune When Rocky Wirtz took over the Wirtz Corporation in 2007, including management of the Chicago Blackhawks, the fiercely beloved hockey team had fallen to a humiliating nadir.
Rocky\'s break with the edicts of his grandfather and father led to a reversal for the ages--three Stanley Cup championships in six year.
Yet his modest proposal to televise the Hawks\' home games provoked fierce opposition from Wirtz Family insiders, who considered any deviation from Arthur and Bill\'s doctrines to be heresy.
To save the team and the company, Rocky launched a radical turnaround campaign.
The Hawks weren\'t only failing on the ice--the parlous state of the team\'s finances imperiled every facet of the Wirtz empire.
Yet when Rocky took the reins of the Business after Bill\'s death, it was an organization out of step with the times and financially adrift. "Dollar Bill" Wirtz demanded unflinching adherence to Arthur\'s traditions and was notorious for an equally fierce temperament.
His son Bill further expanded the conglomerate, taking the helm of the Blackhawks in 1966.
From roots in real estate, "King Arthur" soon expanded into liquor and banking, running his operations with an iron hand and a devotion to profit that earned him the nickname Baron of the Bottom Line.
Arthur Wirtz founded the family\'s Business empire during the Depression.
The Breakaway reveals that untold story.
Behind the scenes, however, it would trigger a father, son, and brother-against-brother drama of Shakespearean proportions.
Rocky\'s resurrection of the team\'s fortunes was--publicly, at least--a feel-good tale of shrewd acumen.
ESPN named the franchise the worst in all of sports.
As chronic losers playing to a deserted stadium, they were worse than bad--they were irrelevant.
Description"This is a terrific book, a dramatic Family saga told in artful prose and filled with emotional turmoil, a few surprisingly touching moments but enough dysfunction for a couple of Eugene O\'Neill plays." --Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune When Rocky Wirtz took over the Wirtz Corporation in 2007, including management of the Chicago Blackhawks, the fiercely beloved hockey team had fallen to a humiliating nadir
