Trippi, Charley
Charley Trippi, a Georgia sports icon, died peacefully Wednesday morning at his home in Athens, UGA officials announced. He was 100.
He helped the University of Georgia to its first consensus national championship in football in 1942 as well as an undefeated season in 1946. A fleet outfielder, Trippi played one year of baseball for the Atlanta Crackers after UGA before his nine-year NFL career with the Chicago Cardinals, leading them to a world championship in 1947.
The AJC's Thomas Stinson writes:
Charley Trippi, who escaped the Pennsylvania coal fields to become what many consider the best all-round athlete in University of Georgia football history, never sought to make the game his life.
It was football that sought out him. And it had to wait in line.
To measure Trippi's abilities against the contemporary game is futile. Though he first excelled as a single wing tailback, he later won the Maxwell Trophy for the best college player as a halfback when UGA coach Wally Butts switched to the T-formation. Throw in his defensive prowess - some argue UGA has had no finer safety - as well as his skill as punter and return specialist, and today's colleges would invest three or four scholarships to fill as many roles.
Read more about Charley Trippi on ajc.com.
