A Pass and A Prayer by Clair Bee
date: label: Date made
content: 1951
name: label: thru person
content: Rinsland, George
label: publisher
content: Grosset and Dunlap
label: author
content: Bee, Clair
label: maker
content: Grosset and Dunlap
notes: label: Description
content: <i> A Pass and A Prayer </i> by Clair Bee was was published in New York, NY by Grosset and Dunlap in 1951. This copy has a stamp from the Junior High School of Ironton, Ohio on the title pages.
label: Description
content: Author Clair Bee was a long time college basketball coach and was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The book is one of a series by Bee about a central character named William "Chip" Hilton. The series is known as "The Chip Hilton Series" of which there are 24. Books number 1-23 were first published from 1948-1966 and book number 24 was first published in 2002. "A Pass and A Prayer" was book number 5 in the series.
label: Description
content: Bee's books are always about basketball, baseball or football. Bee's works do have a notable social framework as he does recognize the difficulties facing African-American athletes at the time. In book 6, Hoop Crazy, Bee addresses the difficulties of a black player who wants to join the team. Although this is the only title to discuss the issue directly, another character named "Miner" in Bee's other works is an African American athlete playing for a rival team. Considering that the books were written in the 1940s-1950s when many collegiate and professional teams did not include African American players, the appearance of Miner as an accepted teammate and foe is fairly unusual.
label: Description
content: Clair Bee would win two National Invitation Tournament titles in 1939 and 1941. His teams would win 95 percent of their games from 1931-1951. This stretch included winning 43 games in a row from 1935-37. Bee still holds the Division I record for highest winning percentage (82.6%). Bee would eventually resign from his position after several of his players were indicated in the City College of New York for a point shaving scandal in 1951. He would then go to the NBA where he would coach the Baltimore Bullets from 1952-1954, finishing with a record of 34-116. Since 1997 the NCAA has presented the Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award (named after the series' main character) to a Division I men's basketball player that has demonstrated outstanding character, leaderships, integrity, humility and sportsmanship both on and off the court.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
label: Junior High School Library Book
content: United States: Ohio, Ironton
topic: label: Subject
content: Football
label: Subject
content: Chip Hilton
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CL.310547.185
label: catalog number
content: 310547.185
label: accession number
content: 310547
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Book
label: Object Name
content: book, football
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 1/2 in x 5 in x 7/8 in; 19.05 cm x 12.7 cm x 2.2225 cm