Third Down and a War to Go

Impressively researched and reported and powerfully written, 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


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.


2005 Honorable Mention in Recreation/Sports from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association