Most Dawg fans know that Charlie Trippi is one of the 3 greatest and most decorated Bulldogs. He won the Maxwell Award in 1946, and he played on Orange, Sugar, Oil and Rose Bowl teams. Along with being a dominating single wing halfback, I once heard Bill Hartman call him "the best defensive back to ever play at UGA."
But did you know that he is also tied for the the 4th highest all-time single season batting average in SEC history at .464. And oh yeah...that was with a wooden bat.
That's Mister Damn Good Dawg to you son.
More on Trippi: (Augusta Chronicle May 1, 2000)
Trippi is honored in four halls of fame, is one of four Bulldogs to have his jersey retired, played professional baseball with the Atlanta Crackers, coached at the college and NFL level, and retired to establish a reasonably successful real estate business.He also had a Kentucky Derby entrant named after him in 2000.
The Augusta Chronicle article linked above us a must read. Go Dawgs.
pwd
4 comments:
That 2000 Derby proved once and for all that any race longer than a mile was beyond him.
He turned out to be a great sprinter (6 to 7 furlongs), winning 5 stakes races as a 3 year old. For his career he won 7 of the 14 races he ran in.
Apparently Cot Campbell named the horse Trippi because he was "a fan of the real Charley Trippi, whom he watched play in the former Bulldog's heyday with the old Chicago Cardinals".
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/043003/spo_20030430075.shtml
Trippi is retired and stands at stud at Ocala Farm in Florida for a fee of $7500. His first foals are starting to race, and his filly A Sea Trippi recently became his first stakes winning offspring.
http://stallionregister.com/4325773.html#race_record
When Herschel Scott, longtime Bulldog fan - guy who'd been to like 500 straight Georgia games, was asked who the greatest bulldog player he'd ever seen was, the reporter said, Herschel Walker, right. Scott said, nope, to be honest, it's Charlie Trippi.
He's a pretty nice guy in person, too. I don't know if he still does it, but I ahve seen him and Zippy Morrocco and a couple of other coach/players from days of yore just hanging out swapping stories in the Arby's on Broad St.
Here is another guy who gets essentially no pub for a great career (information herein is from Wikipedia entry for Rauch):
John Rauch earned the starting quarterback slot for the University of Georgia as a freshman in 1945, he led the Bulldogs to a 36-8-1 record. Included in these victories are four straight bowl game appearances, as well as an undefeated record in 1946. On an individual level, he won first team All American accolades following his senior year, and left the school as college football's all-time passing leader with 4,044 yards.
Rauch was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1949, then traded for the rights to Southern Methodist University's Doak Walker.
Rauch became coach of the Oakland Raiders in 1966, lost just once during the 1967 regular season, and faced the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II. For his efforts, Rauch was named the AFL Coach of the Year. After a 12-2 season in 1968, Rauch resigned to become head coach of the Buffalo Bills, where his first draft pick was O.J.Simpson. Rauch later coached the CFL Toronto Argonauts.
In 2003 Rauch was honored for his stellar career in the college ranks when he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Fred
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