Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Blue Streaks and Little Giants: More Than a Century of Sandusky and Fremont Ross Football



 
The Blue Streaks and Little Giants: More Than a Century of Sandusky and Fremont Ross Football
by Vince Guerrieri
 
Everyone loves a football rivalry! And Ohio surely has some great ones! Sports journalist Vince Guerrieri, brings to life the highlights and history of the more than century-old rivalry of the high school football teams of Sandusky and Fremont.  It all began in the fall of 1895  when the Fremont, Ohio high school football team traveled to Sandusky, Ohio to play its very first game against the Blue Streaks. Since then, Fremont Ross' Little Giants and Sandusky's Blue Streaks have met more than 100 times!  
 
Rather than a statistical record, The Blue Streaks and Little Giants: More Than a Century of Sandusky and Fremont Ross Football chronicles the great games through the decades. Along the way, you meet an Olympian, an NFL draft pick, a Heisman Trophy winner, and dozens of coaches and players whose talent and passion for the game have led them to personal success. 
 
John Garvin
 
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
Guerrieri skillfully weaves into his narrative the history of the two northern Ohio towns and how they first came to play the game. (Above, I have added a picture of John Garvin, a graduate of the Naval Academy. He was the man who brought the first football to his hometown of Fremont. He not only organized and coached the team, but also played quarterback!)

Blue Streaks and Little Giants also features year-by-year game results and some great photos from private collections, the Sandusky Library, and the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center.
Conducting more than a dozen interviews and consulting as many newspapers, Guerrieri takes you inside the tradition that began before the forward pass. As Guerrieri concludes, "the game of football grew up around it, the OHSSA, the NCAA, and the NFL." You can get your copy of Blue Streaks and Little Giants through The History Press.  

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