Customer Reviews

A Pass and a Prayer (Chip Hilton Sports Series #5)

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This volume seems to be one of the favorites of Chip Hilton fans everywhere. The forces of evil mobilized against Chip are particularly bad and the final scene actually a bit violent (well, at least by the standards of fifty years ago). Read and see how far we, as a people, have fallen in half a century. Of course, better still, read the original. The current edition has been updated to satisfy the dogmas of feminism and the cliches of youth culture. Gosh, doesn't anyone get that it was those very forces which destroyed the world of Chip and Coach Rockwell and gave us America of 1999?!

In his final year of high school Chip Hilton, All-State quarterback, is ready to lead his veteran Valley Falls High School team to a second straight championship. Tragedy strikes when coach Henry Rockwell is hospitalized and is fighting for his life. One of the towns leading citizens and the head of the school board conspire to oust the "Rock". They bring in an unscrupulous outsider and install him against Rockwell's recommendation. He quickly causes disharmony and chaos on the team. Hilton is suspended from the team several times. The way that Chip deals with adversity and fights back, makes great reading. It also teaches excellent values to young folks. A must read for Chip Hilton fans

I have read just about all of the 20+ volumes in the Hilton series and this has always been my favorite. In addition to being good sports stories, Chip always had to overcome some evil forces to triumph in the end. The evil is so strong in this story, that I want to punch the air in satisfaction when Chip wins out - no matter how many times I have read the book. If you are new to the series, however, I would suggest you start with the first story - "Touchdown Pass" - and go from there.

This entry in the Chip Hilton series has much of the excitement of the others, but there is a serious flaw in the plot. Chip is an incoming senior at Valley Falls High school and considered by most people to be the best football player in the state. The nucleus of their state championship football team is back, so everyone expects great things from the Valley Falls team. However, Coach Rockwell takes ill and through political maneuverings engaged in by the mayor, an assistant coach named Brasher is named interim coach. The principal of the school is a spineless nonentity who goes along with little more than a soft protest. The attitude and temperament of this coach are very negative, which is the flaw in the story.
Brasher is so violent and brutal that he physically assaults the football players and another assistant coach. This is tolerated, which is absurd. No member of a teaching or coaching staff could punch a player or a fellow coach without being immediately discharged and formally charged with assault. Brasher also berates the team for his mistakes and publicly ridicules players for what he perceives as insubordination to his foolish policies. The use of this plot device is unfortunate, because the story was otherwise good enough to survive without the exaggerated violence. With it, the story becomes difficult to read.

A Pass and a Prayer is a great book to read for all sports fans. It's fiction, but it's realistic fiction. Also, if you like this one, you should read the rest of the series by Coach Clair Bee. THis book is number 5. It's also about high school football. So, if you go to high school football games and enjoy them, you will probabally like this book. As you can see, this book is great for sports fans. Especially football fans!