Charley Trippi - # 292

 

Charley Trippi, Versatile Football Hall of Famer, Dies at 100

A star on offense and defense, he took Georgia to a Rose Bowl victory and the Chicago Cardinals to an N.F.L. title. “The greatest football player I’ve ever seen,” Jim Thorpe said.

He was number 292 on the list.

Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Charley Trippi, a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy at Georgia who went on to lead the Cardinals to their most recent NFL championship in 1947, died Wednesday. He was 100 and was the oldest living Pro Football Hall of Famer at the time of his death.

The University of Georgia announced that Trippi died peacefully at his Athens home.

Trippi was one of football’s most versatile players, lining up at multiple positions on offense, defense and special teams. He is the only member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to have at least 1,000 yards rushing, receiving and passing in his career.

The son of a Pennsylvania coal miner, Trippi played his college football with the Georgia Bulldogs in the 1940s, his career interrupted by a stint in the military during World War II.

On the football field, Charley Trippi could do it all.

He could punt, he could return kicks, he could play defensive back, he could throw and, most notably, he could run -- which he did all the way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

One of football's brightest stars of the 1940s and '50s, Trippi died on Wednesday, the University of Georgia announced. He was 100 years old.

A Canton inductee in the Class of 1968, Trippi was the oldest living member of the Hall prior to his passing. Now that distinction goes to former referee and head of officiating Art McNally, who is a month older than fellow 97-year-old Hall of Famer Marv Levy.

"Charley Trippi will always enjoy a special place in the history of the National Football League, the Cardinals franchise and especially in the hearts of our family," Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said in a statement. "My grandfather signed him to be part of the 'Million-Dollar Backfield' and he was a key part of the Cardinals NFL championship team of 1947, my grandmother's first as owner and on which my dad was a ballboy. I had the pleasure of getting to know Charley in more recent years and hearing his stories from such an important time for the Cardinals and the NFL.

"Our condolences go out to the Trippi family and especially to the University of Georgia community to which he had such a strong connection."

The No. 1 overall selection of the 1945 NFL Draft by the Chicago Cardinals, Trippi's pro career actually didn't begin until two years later, as World War II had interrupted his college days at Georgia. But he immediately proved to be worth the wait, leading the franchise to the 1947 NFL Championship, scoring two touchdowns in the title game. During a stellar nine-year career that spanned from 1947 through 1955, he earned a pair of Pro Bowl nods, as well as one first-team All-Pro designation, and was a member of the NFL's All-Decade Team of the 1940s.

Trippi's pro career saw him rush for 3,506 yards and 23 touchdowns on 687 carries (5.1 average). He added 130 catches for 1,321 yards and 11 TDS, and threw for 2,547 career passing yards and 16 more scores. Though Trippi played his last down of football seven decades ago, he still stands as the only Pro Football Hall of Famer to tally at least 1,000 yards passing, rushing and receiving in his career. With 864 punt return yards and 1,457 yards on kickoff returns, Trippi's astonishing NFL tenure saw him finish with 7,241 all-purpose yards.

While it was hardly a novelty for players to compete on both sides of the ball during Trippi's heyday, his versatility still stood out. There was little Trippi couldn't do when called upon by the Cardinals.

Before he dominated on the professional level, Trippi -- who was born more than a century ago on Dec. 14, 1921, in Pittston, Pennsylvania -- starred at Georgia, eventually earning a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame. With Trippi serving in the Air Force during World War II, his UGA stay was sandwiched around his service time. He led the Bulldogs to a Rose Bowl win in 1943, earning game MVP honors. Three years later, he was the Maxwell Award winner as the most outstanding college football player in America.

The start of Trippi's NFL voyage was front-page news. Also a standout baseball player for Georgia, Trippi turned down multiple offers from Major League Baseball teams. The New York Yankees football team tried to lure him into the All-America Football Conference, but Trippi signed with the NFL's Cardinals on a then-record $100,000 contract.

Playing halfback as part of the "Million Dollar Backfield" that also included quarterback Paul Christman, halfbacks Elmer Angsman and Marshall Goldberg and fullback Pat Harder, Trippi led Chicago to instant success. In Trippi's 1947 rookie campaign, the Cardinals won the NFL Championship, 28-21, at Comiskey Park over Steve Van Buren's Philadelphia Eagles. Contending with an icy field, in addition to the Eagles, Trippi famously sported basketball shoes for better footing. Sensational in the clutch, Trippi scored the title game's first touchdown on a 44-yard run and then added another score on a 75-yard punt return. He finished the game with 206 all-purpose yards.

A year later, the Cardinals and Eagles collided again in the title game. This time, though, Philadelphia and the weather got the best of Trippi and Chicago. Played at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, the 1948 NFL Championship Game was the first league title affair to be televised. It was also played amid blizzard-like conditions that delayed the start of the game. Trippi was held to 26 yards on the ground, and Van Buren's fourth-quarter touchdown run stood as the only score of the game in a 7-0 Eagles win.

The Cardinals wouldn't return to the postseason for the remainder of Trippi's time in the league, but the Swiss Army Knife still made a lasting impression on the football world. Trippi eventually became the team's starting quarterback. He also served as the Cardinals' primary punter. Again, the man did it all.

All these years later, Trippi became just the second Pro Football Hall of Famer (Clarence "Ace" Parker was the first) to hit 100 years old on Dec. 14, 2021. Along the way, Trippi saw the game transform in front of him, after the $100,000 rookie had paved the way decades and decades ago.

Perhaps North America's best athlete of all time, the legendary Jim Thorpe once called Trippi the "greatest football player I have ever seen."

An all-time great on the gridiron who was an emblem of versatility, he was a trailblazer and a treasure.

Charley Trippi was one for the ages.

After he ended his playing career, Trippi served as an assistant coach with the Cardinals from 1957 to 1965, mostly coaching the offensive backfield. He later took up a business in real estate. Trippi was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959; the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1965; and the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1968.

Hall of Famer Art Donovan tells this story from late in Trippi's career: "Earlier in the season, the Bears had nearly killed Charlie Trippi, a very tough halfback. The guy who did it to him was Ed Sprinkle.... Sprinkle sucker-punched Trippi and shattered his jaw. He required a whole series of bone grafting. Then next season, Trippi broke Sprinkle's jaw. What goes round comes round."

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. Following the 1952 season, he was invited to the Pro Bowl as a backup quarterback for the American Conference. Trippi moved back to offensive halfback for one season and again was invited to the Pro Bowl. 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.[26] 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. He appeared in only five games that season and did not record any statistics on offense. Trippi retired on December 13, 1955, a day before his 33rd birthday.[36] 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).

In addition to football, Trippi was highly sought-after for his baseball skills. As a senior on Georgia's baseball team in 1946, he recorded a batting average of .475 and hit 11 home runs in 30 games while playing as a shortstop and outfielder. In 1947, Trippi played one season of minor league baseball with the Southern Association's Atlanta Crackers. He recorded a batting average of .334 through 106 games while drawing large crowds. Multiple Major League Baseball teams attempted to sign him, including the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Boston Braves, and Philadelphia Phillies, but those deals fell through when he joined the NFL. Between NFL seasons in 1948 and 1949, Trippi served as Georgia's baseball coach, compiling a 34–18 win–loss record.

Due to relaxed regulations during WWII years, Trippi holds the unusual distinction of participating in the Chicago College All-Star Game a record five times: twice with Georgia, twice in the military, and once with the Cardinals. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the game in 1945. It was at the Chicago College All-Star Game that Bidwell decided he would draft Trippi first overall, as "Card-Pitt" was winless in 1944 and in need of a play-maker. "He said, 'I'm gonna get ya,'" Trippi recalled. "He wanted me to play for him, and I said, 'All you've got to do is draft me and I'm ready.'

Some of his former teammates and coaches include: Jimmy Conzelman, Pop Ivy, Red Cochran, Joe Coomer, Chet Bulger, Walt Rankin, Buster Ramsey, Vince Banonis, Babe Dimancheff, Dick Plasman, Malcolm Kutner, Violet Bidwill Wolfner, Phil Handler, Buddy Parker, Curly Lambeau, Cecil Isbell, Jim Hardy, Frank Tripucka, Elmer Angsman, Bob Shaw, Bill Fischer, Fran Polsfoot, Tom Wham, Joe Kuharich, Ollie Matson, Don Paul, Johnny Olszewski, Bill Svoboda, Pat Summerall, Joe Stydahar, Dick Night Train Lane, Steve Romanik and Lamar McHan.

 

Career highlights and awards

 

    NFL champion (1947)

    First-team All-Pro (1948)

    Second-team All-Pro (1947)

    2× Pro Bowl (1952, 1953)

    NFL 1940s All-Decade Team

    Arizona Cardinals Ring of Honor

    National champion (1942)

    Maxwell Award (1946)

    SEC Player of the Year (1946)

    Unanimous All-American (1946)

    2× First-team All-SEC (1945, 1946)

    Georgia Bulldogs No. 62 retired