| Personal Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Born |
December 14 1921 Pittston, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||
| Career information | |||
| Year(s) | 1947–1955 | ||
| NFL Draft | 1945 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1 | ||
| College | Pittston Area High School | ||
| Professional teams | |||
| Career stats | |||
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Charles Louis "Charley" Trippi (born December 14, 1921) is a former American football player. He was in the National Football League with the Chicago Cardinals. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.
College career[]
Considered undersized at 160 pounds, Trippi was turned down by four colleges before being recruited to play for the University of Georgia by Georgia alum Harold "War Eagle" Ketron.[1] He was given a scholarship and played for the Georgia Bulldogs football varsity team from 1942 to 1946, with an interlude in 1944 due to World War II. As a sophomore in 1942, he played alongside that season's Heisman Trophy winner Frank Sinkwich. That year, Trippi and Sinkwich led Georgia to a 75–0 win over rival Florida, a game in which Trippi threw a touchdown pass to end George Poschner, scored two rushing touchdowns, and on defense returned an interception for a touchdown.[2] Georgia finished the season with a record of 11–1 and was named the consensus national champion. Trippi then guided Georgia to a 9–0 victory over UCLA in the 1943 Rose Bowl, in which he carried 27 times for 115 yards and also handled passing and punting duties.[3] He was retroactively named the game's most valuable player when the award was created in 1953.[4]
NFL career[]
Trippi was a major part in the battling between the NFL and All-America Football Conference (AAFC). The 26-year-old rookie had plenty of leverage as a star commodity, and so weighed his options: the Cardinals and the AAFC's New York Yankees. The Yankees were sure they had signed Trippi to a joint deal that included a contract with the Yankees of MLB, but Cardinals owner Charles Bidwill signed Trippi to a four-year contract worth an unprecedented $100,000 along with a first-year bonus of $25,000.[5] The contract was considered the most lucrative in pro football history.[6] Trippi felt the NFL was more established and stable, and Bidwill had offered him job security.[7]
Trippi's addition completed Bidwill's "Dream Backfield". Although Bidwill did not live to see it, Trippi became the game breaker in a talented corps that included Paul Christman, Pat Harder, Marshall Goldberg and, later, Elmer Angsman.[8] Trippi served a multitude of roles for the Cardinals as a rookie: in 11 games, he rushed 83 times for 401 yards, caught 23 passes for 240 yards, averaged 43.4 yards on 13 punts, returned eight punts for 181 yards and 15 kickoffs for 321 yards, and on defense returned an interception 59 yards for a touchdown.[9] The Cardinals compiled nine wins and three losses and faced the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1947 NFL Championship Game, which the Cardinals won 28–21 largely due to a spectacular all-around performance by Trippi. Playing on an icy field in Chicago, Trippi wore basketball shoes for better traction and totaled 206 yards, including 102 yards with two punt returns.[10] He scored touchdowns on a 44-yard run and a 75-yard punt return. During the punt return, he twice escaped an encirclement of tacklers and fell to his knees near midfield before cutting to the outside and sprinting for the score.[11] Trippi was named to the 1947 All-Pro second team backfield by the United Press.[12]
Trippi led the NFL in all-purpose yards in both 1948 and 1949, compiling 1,485 and 1,552 respectively.[9] His 5.4 rushing yards per carry in 1948 also led the league, as did his two punt return touchdowns. He had a 45-yard punt return touchdown against the Green Bay Packers and later returned a punt 67 yards for a touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Trippi was a first-team All-Pro selection for 1948 by the AP, UPI, New York Daily News, and The Sporting News, among others.[9] The Cardinals returned to the championship game in 1948, and this time were shutout by the Eagles for a 7–0 loss. Trippi was held to nine carries for only 26 yards during the game, which was played in a heavy snowstorm.[13] Trippi saw heavy use as a receiver in 1949; in addition to rushing for 554 yards, he led the Cardinals in receptions (32) and receiving touchdowns (six) and was second on the team with 412 receiving yards.[14]
After playing as a left halfback for his first four seasons, Trippi switched to quarterback during 1951 and 1952. On December 15, 1951, on frozen turf in Wrigley Field, Trippi completed nine passes for 106 yards and carried 11 times for 145 yards, accounting for three touchdowns as the Cardinals defeated the Bears 24–14.[15] Following the 1952 season, he was invited to the Pro Bowl as a backup quarterback for the American Conference.[16] Trippi moved back to offensive halfback for one season and again was invited to the Pro Bowl.[17] He then switched over to play defense in 1954, recording three pass interceptions as a defensive back. He also became the Cardinals' primary punter for 1953 and 1954, and had a career punting average of over 40 yards per punt.[9] His career essentially ended in the 1955 preseason when he was tackled by John Henry Johnson of the San Francisco 49ers, which left Trippi with a smashed nose, a concussion, and a protruding bone behind his eye that gave him double vision.[18] He appeared in only five games that season and did not record any statistics on offense.[9] Trippi retired on December 13, 1955, a day before his 33rd birthday.[19] At the time, his 6,053 yards of total offense (3,506 rushing, 2,547 passing, and 1,321 receiving) was the most by a player in NFL history, and he had compiled the fourth-most all-purpose yards of any player (7,148).[20]
References[]
- ↑ "Trippi's Terrific", Chicago Tribune, October 16, 1949, p. 11.
- ↑ "Magill: Dogs' 75–0 thumping of Gators most memorable", Athens Banner-Herald, October 30, 2008.
- ↑ "Georgia Wins Rose Bowl Classic, 9–0", The Salt Lake Tribune, January 2, 1943, p. 5.
- ↑ "Rose Bowl Champions, MVPs", Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2002.
- ↑ "Chicago Cardinals to Pay Trippi $100,000", The Daily Times, January 17, 1947, p. 6.
- ↑ "Trippi Gets Peanuts, Says Gallopin' Ghost", News-Journal, January 17, 1947, p. 21.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedWolken - ↑ "The Cards' dream season in '47", Pro Football Hall of Fame, January 1, 2005.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Charley Trippi Stats. Sports Reference.
- ↑ "Not Surprising", The Index-Journal, January 13, 2009, p. 11.
- ↑ "Cardinals Down Eagles to Gain Pro Grid Crown", The Evening News, December 29, 1947, p. 20.
- ↑ "Bears, Cardinals Each Place Three Men On U. P. All-Pro Eleven", Freeport Journal-Standard, December 11, 1947, p. 13.
- ↑ "Heavy Snow Mars Game; Use Lights", Chicago Daily Tribune, December 20, 1948, p. 1.
- ↑ 1949 Chicago Cardinals Statistics & Players. Sports Reference.
- ↑ "Cards Upset Bears, 24–14; Trippi Stars", The Decatur Herald, December 17, 1951, p. 4.
- ↑ "Pro Bowl Will Feature Leading T Quarterbacks", Janesville Daily Gazette, January 9, 1953, p. 10.
- ↑ "Eastern Squad Wins Pro Bowl Game, 20–9", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 18, 1954, p. 18.
- ↑ "Trippi Badly Hurt; Fear Career Over", St. Petersburg Times, September 16, 1955, p. 12.
- ↑ "Charley Trippi Retires As Player for Cardinals", Moberly Monitor-Index, December 13, 1955, p. 9.
- ↑ Player Season Finder Query Results: For combined seasons, from 1920 to 1955, played in the NFL, sorted by descending All-Purpose Yds. Sports Reference.
External links[]
- Charley Trippi article at Wikipedia
