A Book and a Chat with Jack Cavanaugh

My guest today is Jack Cavanaugh a veteran sportswriter whose work has appeared most notably on the sports pages of the New York Times, for which he has covered hundreds of assignments.

During his 50-year career in journalism, as well as the New York Times , Jack has covered sports for, contributed to Sports Illustrated, Reader's Digest, Golf and Tennis magazines and the Sporting News, and served as a reporter for ABC and CBS News.

During this time he has published several books. Damn the Disabilities: Full Speed Ahead published in 1995, followed by the Pulitzer Prize-nominated "Tunney: Boxing's Brainiest Champ and His Upset of the Great Jack Dempsey" a biography of boxing legend Gene Tunney was referred to as "impressively researched and richly detailed" by Sports Illustrated.
In 2008 Jack release yet another great sporting book in the form Giants Among Men: How Robustelli, Huff, Gifford, and the Giants Made New York a Football Town and Changed the NFL.

Now twenty years after he first wrote articles about this sporting hero for Sports Illustrated, he has produced “The Gipper”.

Once portrayed in a film by Ronald Regan, “The Gipper- George Gipp" is a sporting hero, the likes of which perhaps we’ll never see again. The phrase “Win one for The Gipper.” is one of the most widely-used exhortative phrase in sports.

In his book Jack goes shares with us about this mythical-like sports figure whose nickname has aroused, in turn, awe, wonderment, curiosity, and amusement since the second decade of the twentieth century.

Not perhaps the choir boy image portrayed by Ronald Regan, Gipp loved playing poker and pool. For a person who went to Notre Dame to play baseball his footballing talents in his all to short life were just amazing.

2,341 rushing yards, throwing for 1,789 yards and did not allow a pass completion in his territory. He scored 21 career touchdowns, averaged 38 yards a punt, and gathered five interceptions as well as 14 yards per punt return and 22 yards per kick return in four seasons of play for the Fighting Irish. Gipp is still Notre Dame's all-time leader in many stats. He sadly died at the age of twenty five after contracting strep throat and pneumonia while giving punting lessons after his final game, of course there was no such thing as antibiotics in those days.

The book as a fascinating incite into a mythical sporting hero, an ideal read for all

So sit back and listen to today's interesting and entertaining show as I host today's "A Book and a Chat with Jack Cavanaugh".

Barry

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"Jack Cavanaugh - The Gipper"

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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