Slingin' Sam

The Life and Times of the Greatest Quarterback Ever to Play the Game

By Joe Holley; Introduction by Peyton Manning

University of Texas Press

Dan Jenkins calls him “the greatest quarterback who ever lived, college or pro.” Slingin’ Sammy Baugh, who played for TCU and the Washington Redskins, single-handedly revolutionized the game of football. While the pros still wore leather helmets and played the game more like rugby, Baugh’s ability to throw the ball with rifle-like accuracy made the forward pass a strategic weapon, not a desperation heave. Like Babe Ruth, who changed the very perception of how baseball is played, Slingin’ Sam transformed the notion of offense in football and how much yardage can be gained through the air. As the first modern quarterback, Baugh led the Redskins to five title games and two NFL championships, while leading the league in passing six times—a record that endures to this day—and in punting four times. In 1943, the triple-threat Baugh also scored a triple crown when he led the league in passing, punting, and interceptions.

Slingin’ Sam is the first major biography of this legendary quarterback, one of the first inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Joe Holley traces the whole arc of Baugh’s life (1914–2008), from his small-town Texas roots to his college ball success as an All-American at TCU, his brief flirtation with professional baseball, and his stellar career with the Washington Redskins (1937–1952), as well as his later career coaching the New York Titans and Houston Oilers and ranching in West Texas. Through Holley’s vivid descriptions of close-fought games, Baugh comes alive both as the consummate all-around athlete who could play every minute of every game, on both offense and defense, and as an all-around good guy.

A valuable contribution to football history. Booklist

A longtime journalist who is currently politics editor for the Houston Chronicle, Joe Holley has been an award-winning editorial page editor and columnist for newspapers in San Diego and San Antonio, editor of the Texas Observer, frequent contributor to Texas Monthly, and staff writer for the Washington Post. His book My Mother’s Keeper: A Daughter's Memoir of Growing Up in the Shadow of Schizophrenia (coauthored with Tara Elgin Holley), won the Texas Institute of Letters Award for best book of nonfiction.

Foreword by Peyton Manning
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Introduction
Chapter 1. Sam Baugh: The Beginning
Chapter 2. Dutch Meyer: Short, Safe, Sure
Chapter 3. 1934: The Baugh Era at TCU Begins
Chapter 4. 1935: That Championship Season
Chapter 5. George Preston Marshall: Football Impresario
Chapter 6. Marshall's Redskins: Boston Born but D.C. Bound
Chapter 7. 1936: Baugh's Senior Year at TCU
Chapter 8. 1937: Slingin' Sam Chooses a Career
Chapter 9. The 1937 Season: Baugh and the Redskins Debut in Washington
Chapter 10. The 1937 NFL Championship: Slaying the Monsters of the Midway
Chapter 11. Cardinal Sam? Baugh Tries the Major Leagues
Chapter 12. The 1938 and 1939 Redskins: Giant Victims
Chapter 13. The 1940 NFL Championship: The Monsters' Revenge
Chapter 14. Go West, Young Sam: Hollywood Calling
Chapter 15. The Newest Thing under Heaven: The Double Mountain Ranch
Chapter 16. 1941: A Lackluster Season and a Day of Infamy
Chapter 17. The 1942 Season: Avenging 73–0
Chapter 18. 1943: A Baugh Trifecta and Another Championship Lost
Chapter 19. 1944 and 1945: Yet Another Missed Championship and the End of an Era
Chapter 20. The 1946 and 1947 Seasons: The Dismal Years Begin
Chapter 21. 1948–1952: Last Years with the Redskins
Chapter 22. A Rancher Coaching Cowboys: Baugh at Hardin-Simmons University
Chapter 23. Back to the Pros: Coaching the Titans and the Oilers
Chapter 24. Ranching, Rodeoing, and Golfing: Sam in Retirement
Notes
Bibliography
Index