The Professional

(Harper & Brothers, 1958)

"The Professional is the only good novel about a fighter I have ever read, and an excellent first novel in its own right." ~ Ernest Hemingway

It is apt and befitting that The Professional is the title Heinz gave to his first and favorite novel. The absolute dedication, courage, and desire for perfection that make up a true professional are the qualities he sought in his subjects and for which he strove in his writings and throughout his life. The professional is, in this novel, the manager of a prize fighter. To their partnership the manager gives his years of experience and his genius, and the fighter gives his courage and the skills of his youth. Together they represent the unheralded, dedicated men in all endeavors who strive for perfection and are victims of a special loneliness.

It was Frank Hughes' assignment to write a magazine article about Doc Carroll’s middleweight challenger, Eddie Brown, and to follow Eddie from his leaving home for training camp until the moment of the title fight. Eddie was the fighter Doc Carroll would have been, if he had had the body for it. Thanks to the partnership, he was the best fighter, punch-for-punch, and pound-for-pound, in the ring.

Hughes had known Doc for years, known his courage and honesty when the Prohibition mobs had moved into the fight game. Living with Eddie and Doc at their training camp, he came to know, too, the cost of such dedication.

This is the story of an endeavor in which, perhaps more than in any other, men express themselves completely. An authentic and honest picture, not of boxing alone but of a piece of our world, The Professional is often funny and is sometimes shockingly sad. Throughout, it is perceptive, revealing, moving, and filled with mounting suspense right to the final explosive knockout. It is one of those rare novels that leaves the reader with the conviction that this is the way it really is.

What They Said in 1958

"Some of the best writing we get today is being done by our top sportswriters, and The Professional is a striking case in point. Heinz has made gripping fiction out of the material he knows so well, without ever losing the hard jab of actuality." - Quentin Reynolds

"I think The Professional is a smasher. It taught me again that of all the qualities that make truly fine writing, the one that really counts is truth. Here are the people; this is what they are like, how they think, how they talk, how they behave. It happens that I've been there, but I know that readers who never have been there will recognize this as real.

It's a wonderfully exciting tale that will, I am confident, stand as a classic in its field, as Hemingway's "Fifty Grand" is a classic among short stories." - Red Smith