Everybody's All-American

"Grey Ghost" redirects here; for the musician Grey Ghost see Roosevelt Williams, for other uses see Gray Ghost.

Everybody's All-American is a novel by longtime Sports Illustrated contributor Frank Deford and later made into a Everybody's All-American motion picture directed by Taylor Hackford.

Plot summary

The novel tells the story of a fictional famous college football player at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the early 1950s. The setting of the novel was changed to a fictitious University of Louisiana for the movie adaptation. The main character, Gavin Grey, wins the Heisman Trophy and then goes onto a professional career, but is sidetracked by alcoholism, failed business ventures, and marital difficulties among other misjudgments.

The novel is narrated by Grey's nephew, Donnie McClure, a historian who has written a biography of Confederate war hero J.E.B. Stuart. During his college career, Grey's heroics are often compared to Stuart's actions. Both are celebrated not only for their actions, but for their gentle behavior and consideration for others around them.

Grey's greatest moments came away from the football field. At a fraternity party, a carelessly-placed cigarette ignites the dress of a young coed, who staggers back in fear and nearly starts a much larger fire by lighting a set of drapes. Despite an strong fear of fire, Grey saves the woman by leaping forward and dousing the flames. A few weeks later, Grey, McClure and a UNC teammate, Lawrence, venture into a black neighborhood where Grey meets Narvel Blue, another one-time football star whose greatness was never realized due to bad grades, segregation and bad luck. Blue and Grey compare attributes but decide that a foot-race must be held to determine which is the faster runner. Despite falling behind initially, Grey eventually overcomes Blue by a shade at the end of the race.

General Stuart died at the age of 31, thus being spared the indignity of growing old. Grey is not so fortunate. After a serious knee injury cuts short his professional career, he is miserable in retirement and returns to accept a lesser role with the Baltimore Colts. However, his season, and ultimately his football career, end after a knee injury in his third game. Grey is left calling every team in the NFL, begging for one more chance.

Grey is left to constantly reminisce about his glory days on the football field, boring and embarrassing those around him. His once-gawky and awkward nephew Donnie becomes a respected scholar and biographer. His beauty queen wife, Babs, becomes a successful career woman. His teammates move towards their life off the gridiron with infinitely more grace. Blue overcomes racism in the South to become a successful restaurateur.

As each day passes, Grey falls farther away from his moments of glory. And with each passing day, his relevance, sense of place and his grasp of the world around him fade until he is diminished to little more than a ghost.

Speculation on sources

Some say the book is based on the life of Charlie Justice. Justice was selected as an All-American twice, just like the fictional Grey, and was also a two-time runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. In the novel, Gavin Grey is known primarily by his nickname "The Grey Ghost" just as Justice is referred to most often by his nickname "Choo-Choo". Also, Justice and Grey both played for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League and both were on the cover of Life Magazine. Deford said in the preface of the book that any similarities between Gavin Grey and Charlie Justice were purely coincidental.

The work has also been said to be a fictionalization of the life of Billy Cannon, who was a famous college football player at Louisiana State University. Cannon won the Heisman Trophy and went onto a professional football career with the Houston Oilers and, then the Oakland Raiders. After he finished football, Cannon became a dentist and was later prosecuted for counterfeiting. However, Deford denies that there is any connection between his work and the real-life Dr. Cannon.

Error in novel

One of the novel's quirks is Deford's constant incorrect references to North Carolina's nickname as the "Tarheels". Though Deford thoroughly researched his novel, he failed to note that "Tar Heel" is a two-word nickname.