Georgia Legend Charley Trippi Celebrates 99th Birthday
One of the greatest players in Georgia football history reached an amazing milestone Monday.
Legendary running back Charley Trippi celebrated his 99th birthday. Trippi played halfback on Georgia's 1942 National Championship team, and retroactively won the MVP Award of the 1943 Rose Bowl for his 115-yard performance in the 9-0 win over UCLA.
He served in the military during World War II in 1943-44, and returned six games into the 1945 season. With Trippi, Georgia defeated rivals Auburn, Florida and Georgia Tech by a combined score of 102-0. The Bulldogs went on to defeat Tulsa in the Oil Bowl to cap off a 9-2-0 season.
As a senior in 1946, Trippi led Georgia to an 11-0 SEC Championship season, earning consensus All-America honors while winning the Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Award. Trippi finished second in the Heisman voting to Army running back Glenn Davis. He ended the season with 800 rushing yards and 692 passing yards with 19 total touchdowns. Georgia immediately retired Trippi's No. 62 jersey after his UGA career ended.
Trippi's athletic legend transcended Athens and even the sport of football. He also played baseball at Georgia and hit 11 home runs with a .475 batting average as a senior. He played one minor league season with the Atlanta Crackers in 1947 and received offers to play for multiple major league clubs, including the New York Yankees who won the World Series that year.
Trippi turned down baseball offers to join the Chicago Cardinals who drafted him as a "future pick" in the 1945 NFL Draft. A $100,000 ($1.16 million adjusted for inflation) contract from Chicago swayed Trippi's decision with that being one of the biggest NFL contracts of the era. Trippi was worth every penny.
He joined the "Million Dollar Backfield" his rookie season and helped lead the Cardinals to their only NFL Championship. Trippi and the Cardinals returned to the NFL Championship Game in 1948 in a losing effort.
Trippi played nine seasons with the Cardinals, leading the league in all-purpose yards in 1948 and 1949. Trippi played in two Pro Bowls (1952 and 1953). He would have played in more Pro Bowls, but the game wasn't created until 1951. He did earn All-Pro honors in 1947 and 1948.
Trippi retired after the 1955 season with 9,788 all-purpose yards and 52 all-purpose touchdowns. He is still the only Pro Football Hall of Famer with over 1,000 career yards passing, rushing and receiving. He remained with the Cardinals from 1957-1965 as a backfield coach.
Four years after retiring from playing football, Trippi was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He joined the Pro Football Hall of Fame not long after in 1968.
Despite spending his professional life in Chicago and growing up in Pennsylvania, Trippi made Athens his home. During the NFL offseasons in 1948 and 49, Trippi returned to UGA to coach the baseball team. He built a house in Athens in 1960 where he still resides.
