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The hardback was released in the fall of
2004, with a 2005 copyright date. On the cover is the 1942 Wisconsin team picture, taken on the opening day of fall practices;
plus individual military photos of Pat Harder (Marine), Dave Schreiner (Marine), Ken Currier (Air Forces pilot), Dave Donnellan
(Army), and Jerry Frei (Air Forces, P-38 fighter pilot). Amazon hardback Amazon trade paperback
B&N.com hardback B&N.com paperback WHS hardback WHS paperback Tattered Cover hardback Tattered Cover paperback Online Interview with Terry Frei about Third Down and a War to Go Wisconsin Public radio Interview with Terry Frei about Third Down and a War to Go Stores | Most stores shelve Third Down and a War to Go in the World War II or U.S. History sections -- and not in
sports. If not in stock, the hardback and paperback generally can be ordered at individual bookstores. |
When longtime University of Oregon and National Football League coach Jerry Frei
died in 2001, many of his former players attending his memorial services were astounded to learn that he had been a decorated
P-38 fighter pilot in World War II. He never brought that up with his players. But like so many other veterans, he hadn’t
talked much about the war with his children, either.
Late in Jerry Frei’s life, his son – author and
journalist Terry Frei – belatedly began asking more questions about the young pilot’s experiences. As they talked,
a frame of reference was the Wisconsin Badgers’ 1942 team picture on Jerry Frei’s den wall. Sophomore backup guard
Jerry Frei, then only 18, was in the fourth row of that 1942 photo, behind All-American end Dave Schreiner and star halfback
Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch. The elder Frei spoke of how the players on one of the greatest college football
teams of all time went off to serve their country after their glorious season – and about how not all of them made it
back.
After his father’s death, Terry Frei set out to learn more about the team and the men in that picture.
What he learned left him forever changed.
On December
11, 1941, 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 teammates. In the final-fling atmosphere common on college campuses as the first year of U.S. involvement in the war was
winding down, the Badgers climbed up the national rankings under the guidance of coach Harry Stuhldreher, the quarterback
of Notre Dame’s famed “Four Horsemen.” Stars and scrubs alike had enlisted in various branches, were awaiting
their callups, and knew that each game brought them closer to military service.
Schreiner and the Badgers’
other co-captain, halfback Mark Hoskins, both came from tiny Lancaster, Wisconsin, and the long-time buddies and teammates
both planned to become pilots. But Schreiner’s color blindness ruled him out as a pilot, and after he renounced a pre-medicine
student deferment, the two-time All-American end became a Marine officer.
As the war raged on, the Badgers sailed
through Harm’s Way, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, pushed the envelope as pilots, and led units in the fierce Pacific
island battles.
Through exhaustive research and interviews with the remaining Badgers, their families, and combat
comrades, Terry Frei tells the story of this band of brothers. In particular, the climactic material about the "Great
Escape" prison camp, plus the Battle of Okinawa and the role of several Badgers in it, has tugged at readers’ hearts.
Readers and reviewers agree: This isn't about one team. It's an All-American
story. "With its members serving on all fronts, the 1942
Wisconsin Badgers become a microcosm of the American war effort, representatives of a remarkable generation of self-sacrificing
Americans. . . . Through Hoskins and Schreiner, the cocaptains of the 1942 team, the author makes his most important point.
Frei portrays the young men who played football at the University of Wisconsin in 1942 and later fought for their country
as truly 'All-American' boys. Having embraced the opportunity to serve his country and risk the ultimate sacrifice, Dave
Schreiner -- as both a star athlete and all-American on the football field as well as a man of impeccable character off it
-- was the definitive symbol of this. Written with the passion of an inspired student, Third Down and a War
to Go is fulfilling and powerful. It adds athletic perspective to our understanding
of the 'Greatest Generation' as well as a window into their rural, midwestern lives and their roots as athletes, students,
and friends."
--Shane Butterfield, Michigan Historical Review
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The paperback cover shows the 1942 Wisconsin Badgers' usual starting
lineup. The line, from left to right, facing the camera: RE Dave Schreiner (Marine), RT Paul Hirsbrunner (Marine), RG Ken
Currier (USAAF pilot), C Fred Negus (Marine), LG Red Vogds (Navy), LT Bob Baumann (Marine), LE Bob Hanzlik (Marine). In the
backfield, QB Jack Wink (Marine) takes the snap in front of RHB Mark Hoskins (USAAF pilot), FB Pat Harder (Marine), LHB Elroy
"Crazylegs" Hirsch (Marine). The irony of this picture is the Badgers ran the Notre Dame box offense and almost
never ran out of T formation. “Terry
Frei set out to learn more about his father. He wound up bringing to life a team, a cause and an era. Likewise, all that the
young men of the 1942 Wisconsin Badgers set out to be was college students and football players. But circumstances called
most of them to do something greater: Save the world. 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 men like them, but
to Terry Frei.”
--Neal Rubin, Detroit News and author of Gil Thorp "Mythology is nice. Truth is better. The '42 Badgers
were boys being boys. Good for them. Good for Terry Frei, who chose to write their story truly in his book, Third Down and
a War to Go: The All-American 1942 Wisconsin Badgers.What
a powerful piece of work the book is, a telling detail in the great portrait of America at war, young men and women who saw
their duty and did it no matter how much it scared them."
-- Dave Kindred, The Sporting News and author of Sound and Fury
“Many times you hear athletes called heroes, their deeds and accomplishments
on the field or court are characterized as courageous. After reading Third Down and a War to Go, I am embarrassed to have
ever been thought of as brave or courageous. Enjoy this adventure in history, life, and in courage and take it from a so-called
‘tough guy’...keep the hanky close by.”
--Dan Fouts, Hall of Fame quarterback and ABC-TV sportscaster
“Terry Frei has captured the spirit of a different time in this country, a time of faith in school and in
country, a time of intense loyalty to teammate and fellow soldier. Third Down and a War to Go tells the story of one University
of Wisconsin football team during World War II. But to limit the tale to that is like saying Angela’s Ashes is about
Ireland. This book brings to life, in shades of black and blue and blood red, the idea that certain things are worth fighting
for.”
--Rick Morrissey, Chicago Tribune
“Tirelessly researched and relentlessly touching. The
true allegory of football and war, minus the cliches.”
--Jay Greenberg, New York Post
"...a book that not only makes you keep reading, but makes you care...The last chapter in Frei's book, 'Lives
and Deaths,' details what happened to everyone from that squad, and by the time you get there, you really want to know about
them. It's that kind of book, relatively modest in intent but rich in fabric and execution."
--Dwight Chapin, San
Francisco Chronicle "The drama,
heroism and pathos of this book would make a great movie that would star two Grant County men -- Lancaster's Dave
Schreiner and Mark Hoskins."
--Jon Angeli, Grant County Herald-Independent
"Here’s
a book written with love and passion . . . What began as a sports book comes to resemble something akin to 'Band of Brothers,'
by the late Stephen Ambrose (who played for the Badgers more than a decade later). . . This is an inspiring book, full of
fun and pathos and heroism."
--Dave Wood, past vice-president of the National Book Critics Circle and former book
review editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
"Of all the traits of the World War
II generation, perhaps the most impressive some 60 years later is the ability to make do, no matter the circumstances, and
with little ceremony at that. That theme echoes throughout author Terry Frei's thoroughly researched and ardently objective
book 'Third Down and a War to Go,' a chronicle of the 1942 Badgers' rapid transition from carefree college clashes against
Notre Dame and Minnesota to battling Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. . . The first half of the book establishes the principal
characters and the 'swell' atmosphere of the day, to borrow some period terminology, while detailing an 8-1-1 season in which
the Badgers were deemed mythical national champions by the Helms Foundation. With the war heightening, the majority of the
players were sent overseas to fight on the front lines, and Frei follows them relentlessly in the book's second half, focusing
mainly on (Dave) Schreiner and (Mark) Hoskins. It's a logical choice, given their long friendship, their disparate assignments
and Schreiner's status as an All-American . . . Either half of the book would have stood alone, but together they do
supreme justice to a group all too soon gone, all too easily forgotten."
-- Adam Mertz, The Capital
Times, Madison
"'Third Down and a War to Go' by Terry Frei
is required reading for anyone with an interest in football or the Second World War. If you have an interest in both, then
this book is a must."
-- The Iconoclast, Ourlads.com Scouting
Service
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The Badgers' 1942 co-captains, Dave Schreiner and Mark Hoskins, as childhood buddies in Lancaster, Wisconsin. If
they look guilty here, they probably had just come from convincing someone else to whitewash a fence for them. A few years
later in Madison, they were (right)... "Great
job. So good that I was brought to tears. So good that I almost need to visit the cemetery in Lancaster, Wis., and say 'thanks'
to Dave Schreiner and Mark Hoskins." --Randy Jesick, journalism professor, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
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Lancaster Boys as '42 captains: Dave
Schreiner (80), Mark Hoskins (11). After all those years, it took Uncle Sam to separate them, with Hoskins becoming a
B-17 co-pilot in Europe and Schreiner becoming a Marine lieutenant in the horrific Pacific island fighting. "This is a story of the highest degree, one that
will leave the reader at various times laughing, mournful, amazed, and inspired. 'Third Down And A War To Go' is much more
than just a football story. It is much more than just a war story. It is a story about us."
--Doug
Warren, Badgernation.com
"While Schreiner's is among the most compelling, the stories of these young
men and their efforts and the battlefield recall a different era. . . These Badgers did their job as teammates on the gridiron,
and they headed off together to fight the Germans and Japanese, united in their purpose and with a grateful nation behind
them."
--Scott Angus, editor, Janesville Gazette, son of 1942 team manager Robert Angus
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