National Football League

'North Dallas Forty' author dies

Published Oct. 1, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Former NFL player Peter Gent, whose book about the seamier side of football was made into the movie, ''North Dallas Forty,'' has died in his native Michigan.

His son Carter Gent says his father died Friday at his home in Bangor, where he grew up. He was 69 and had been sick with a pulmonary illness.

Gent was a star basketball player at Michigan State University in the 1960s. He didn't play college football but got an NFL tryout with the Dallas Cowboys in 1964 and played five seasons with the team.

Released in 1973, his novel ''North Dallas Forty'' was made into a movie six years later. It starred Nick Nolte and Mac Davis. Gent wrote a sequel, ''North Dallas After Forty,'' as well as other books.