George Plimpton’s 1963 Detroit Lions Tryout: The Inspiring Story That Inspired a Book and Movie

One of Plimpton’s earliest initiations as a “rookie” came when he was made to stand on his chair in the Eliel Saarinen-designed dining hall to sing his alma mater’s fight song, a hazing custom initiated by the renowned quarterback Bobby Layne. Plimpton humbly chirped what he could remember with his right palm over his heart:

“Crimson in triumph flashing’Til that last white line is paster    We’ll fight for Harvard’s name’Til……that last white line is past…”

“No one seemed upset,” Plimpton wrote. Everyone continued to eat, with perhaps one or two heads raised at the name of the college, a school with little association with professional football.”
The tight-fitting helmet that cruelly squeezed the writer’s ears was his main gripe. He put it on before going through a rope obstacle course and practising the five plays he was studying.

Throughout “Paper Lion,” Plimpton gave insights and advice from teammates at various positions on how the game is played, as well as stories about Lion players’ shenanigans, such as scaring each other in the dorms with fright masks.

 
He occasionally joined some of the players for a night of partying and dancing at Dearborn’s now-defunct Gay Haven nightclub, where they twisted the night away before returning to Cranbrook for bed check.

Plimpton also emceed the yearly “rookie show,” which featured skits and songs mocking the veteran players and coaches. Plimpton was booed by his teammates when portraying NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle in one skit because Rozelle had banned lineman Alex Karras and penalized a few players earlier in the year for gambling.

Finally, on August 3, 1963, in front of 7,000 Lion supporters at Wisner Stadium, Lion Assistant General Manager Bud Erickson addressed the crowd just before halftime. He explained to the audience that “Number 0 was a novice, a writer who had been practicing with the team for three weeks and had learned five plays, which he is now ready to perform.

As one could anticipate, it was a humiliating failure for Plimpton. Finally, he earned respectful applause from the audience for his efforts.

Plimpton mishandled the ball and was tackled for a 5-yard loss on the first play.

He returned for an intended 10-yard pass to Pietrosante on the second play, but slipped and fell down for a 2-yard loss.

Plimpton was meant to hand off to Danny Lewis on play three, but he was late and was grabbed by Brown, the huge tackle, who stripped the ball and sprinted in for a 10-yard score. However, the referee signaled the end of the game.

Plimpton threw an incomplete throw over the head of Jim Gibbons on play four.

Coach George Wilson exclaimed before the writer made his final play, “Last play, the ball’s on the 10-yard line, let’s see you take it all the way.”

According to Plimpton, one player inquired, “Which end zone is he talking about?”

Plimpton lateraled the ball to Pietrosante, who got tackled at the 1-yard line, just one yard short of the embarrassment of taking the team from the thirty-yard line all the way back into their own end zone, resulting in a safety.