Third Down and a War To Go

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Terry Frei

Foreword by David Maraniss

The heart-wrenching tale of All-American football player Dave Schreiner and his band of brothers is much more than the story of one team—it’s an All-American story.

320 pages, 6 x 9, 52 b&w photos
Paperback: $24.95 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-384-8
Ebook: $15.99 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-556-9
Publication Date: 7/19/2007

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Front cover of Third Down and a War To Go

Description

On December 11, 1941, All-American football player Dave Schreiner wrote to his parents, “I’m not going to sit here snug as a bug, playing football, when others are giving their lives for their country. . . . If everyone tried to stay out of it, what a fine country we’d have!” Schreiner didn’t stay out of it. Neither did his teammates on the University of Wisconsin Badger football team, including friend and co-captain Mark “Had” Hoskins and standouts “Crazylegs” Hirsch and Pat Harder. After that legendary 1942 season, the Badgers scattered to serve, fight, and even die around the world.

In the final-fling atmosphere typical on college campuses as the first year of US involvement in World War II was winding down, the Wisconsin Badgers climbed their way up the rankings and ultimately became one of the greatest college football teams of all time. Yet, stars and benchwarmers alike knew that each game brought them closer to military service. The Badger players entered the various military branches shortly after the season, and many were sent overseas. Not all were asked to be heroic in battle, but many were, and they answered the challenge. Not all of them returned.

This engaging history includes in-depth research into the 1942 Badger players, along with a foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Maraniss.

Author Bio

Terry Frei

Terry Frei is a Denver-based author and journalist. He worked as a columnist and reporter for The Denver Post and ESPN.com and also wrote for The Sporting News and The Oregonian. He is the author seven books of nonfiction, including Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming and March 1939: Before the Madness. He has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado. Frei has been named State Sports Writer of the Year several times in both Colorado and Oregon.

“‘Third Down and a War to Go’ will put you in the huddle, in the front lines, and in a state of profound gratitude—not only to the Badgers and the hundreds of thousands of veterans like them, but to Terry Frei.”

Neal Rubin

The Detroit News

“Tirelessly researched and relentlessly touching. The true allegory of football and war, minus the cliches.”

—Jay Greenberg, The New York Post

“Brings to life, in shades of black and blue and blood red, the idea that certain things are worth fighting for.”

—Rick Morrissey, Chicago Tribune

“A book that not only makes you keep reading, but makes you care.”

—Dwight Chapin, San Francisco Chronicle

“What a powerful piece of work . . . a telling detail in the great portrait of America at war, young men and women who saw their duty and did it no matter how much it scared them.”

—Dave Kindred, The Sporting News

“The stories of players at war poignantly remind everyone of lives sacrificed for freedom.”

—Midwest Living Magazine

“Thoroughly researched and ardently objective. . . . In stripping away patriotic embellishment from the group's obvious sacrifices, Frei created a work sure to register with history buffs and intrigue even those sports fans not typically mindful of a team whose highlights can't be bought on DVD. . . . [The book does] supreme justice to a group all too soon gone, all too easily forgotten.”

—Adam Mertz, The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)

“Many times you hear athletes called heroes, their deeds and accomplishments characterized as courageous. . . . After reading Third Down and a War to Go, I am embarrassed to have ever been thought of as brave or courageous. . . . Enjoy this adventure in history, life, and courage and take it from a so-called 'tough guy': keep the hanky close by.”

—Dan Fouts, Hall of Fame quarterback and ABC-TV sportscaster)