Third Down and a War to Go

By Terry Frei

Book Overview

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 Wisconsin Badger teammates, including friend and cocaptain 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.
This fully revised edition of the popular hardcover includes follow-up research and updates about many of the '42 Badgers, plus a new foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Maraniss. Readers and reviewers agree: Terry Frei's heart-wrenching story of Schreiner and his band of brothers is much more than one team's tale. It's an All-American story.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0870203843
• ISBN13: 9780870203848
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Into the endzone!

Admittedly, I'm biased, because the 1942 Wisconsin Badgers won the first football game I ever saw. And what a way to get a kid started. It was one of those times when, briefly, it all came together: Heartland guys who hailed from small towns and cities and who played an extraordinary game of football for the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Names like Elroy Hirsh, Pat Harder, Dave Schreiner still resonate. Sadly the war put an end to this magic, and tragically some of the guys never made it back to pick up where they'd left off. Sportswriter Terry Frei, son of the late '42 Badger Jerry Frei, has done a remarkable job of reporting the drama and the triumphs of the season and the dedication and inevitable heartbreak that marked the war years. But despite the focus of this cleverly titled book, don't be fooled. This is an All-America story.

A great story about football and so much more

So many had raved about this to me, on the web and in the media I didn't know if it could live up to all of that. It was even better than I expected. The friendships, the campus atmosphere in the first year of the war, the great football season involving famous players (Crazy Legs) and a famous coach (Four Horseman), and then the war experiences! When you get to the battle climaxes, you're both feeling proud and ready to cry in places, and you're also staggered because of the amount of research that had to go into this to find all of it out. Not to ruin the story, but this also shows why a lot of us Wisconsin fans think David Schreiner should be honored on the facade of Camp Randall Stadium. If you haven't heard of Dave Schreiner, you should. Talk about what this country is all about! He's it.

Incredibly vivid images painted by words...

Mr. Frei has been able to so clearly paint the images of football, war, heroism, friendship, patriotism and love. I never wanted to put "Third Down" on the nightstand; the faces and stories were so real. This book will appeal to football fans and history buffs alike -- yet it is so much more than either of those. "Third Down" is a fanastic story but the fact that it is based on reality makes it so much more... I deeply care for the people Frei writes about -- he touches the reader by bringing us into the lives of real American heros. Thank you, Mr. Frei, for passionately sharing the story of the '42 Badgers with us!

First down on a great read.

Terry Frei gives us a remarkable game-by-game look at football as played in the 1940's - the differences from today's game and the surprising similarities - while the war looms in the background. Then the scene shifts to a riveting account of the war from the first-person views of the same players we have come to like and admire. This book brings the war home as none other I have read. It's a very special book and a must read.

Great Story, Well Written Book

Third Down And A War To Go is the story of the 1942 Wisconsin football team. We follow them from the season before Pearl Harbor to the one after when many of the players realize that before long they will be somewhere fighting against the Japanese or Germans. We are then taken overseas with these same players and experience the war through them. The author tells this story in an intersting manner and he shows us why these men are called "the Greatest Generation." A must read.