Everybody's All-American

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"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.

[edit] Plot summary

The novel tells the story of a fictional famous college football player at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.