Sports' Forgotten Heroes

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 P