Charley Trippi is not a name most NFL fans are familiar with. And that’s a shame, because Charley Trippi was one of the game’s most outstanding players during his nine years from 1947 through 1955. Trippi was a star for the Chicago Cardinals beginning on the day he arrived in 1947. A runner-up to Glenn Davis for the Heisman Trophy, winner of the Maxwell Award and the leader of a very formidable Georgia Bulldogs team that won the 1943 Rose Bowl, Trippi was the first overall pick in the 1946 NFL Draft. But he was also being courted by the New York Yankees. Yes, Trippi was not only a talented, all-purpose football player, he also swung a might bat and the Yankees wanted him. However, then-Cardinals owner Charles Bidwell told Trippi to visit the Yankees, get their offer and no matter what they offered him, he would beat it. And that’s exactly what Bidwell did. So, Trippi turned down the Yankees, signed with the Cardinals and led Chicago to the 1947 NFL Championship. In fact, in the championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Trippi rushed for a touchdown and scored another on a 75-yard punt return. Trippi was part of Chicago’s famous, “Million Dollar Backfield”. The Cardinals were an NFL power, but shortly after their second trip to the NFL Championship game in 1948, a 7-0 loss to the Eagles, the Cardinals fell on hard times and went through one of the worst 10-years periods in NFL history. But, it had nothing to do with Trippi who finished his career as the NFL’s all-time leader in yards from scrimmage and is still the only member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who has rushed for at least 1,000-yards, has more than 1,000-yards receiving and has thrown for more than 1,000-yards. Joe Ziemba, author of the terrific book, “When Football Was Football: The Chicago Cardinals and the Birth of the NFL,” returns to Sports’ Forgotten Heroes for a wonderful discussion about one of the NFL’s greatest – Charley Trippi.
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