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Coach Vittone knows his football. Fran Tarkenton was a fantastic quarterback. Listed at 6 feet and 190 pounds, but probably smaller, Tarkenton looked like a high school kid among the giants of professional football. But even though Tarkenton didn’t look like a pro quarterback, he sure played like one.

In 1961, the Minnesota Vikings were a new expansion team in the National Football League (NFL). They drafted Tarkenton out of the University of Georgia in the third round of the NFL draft because they needed a quarterback. But they weren’t sure Tarkenton could play the position in the NFL.

At that time, most NFL quarterbacks were “drop-back” passers. NFL quarterbacks took several steps back, planted their feet, looked for a receiver, and passed the ball before the defense could tackle them.

Tarkenton was different; he was a scrambler. Tarkenton moved around in the backfield, dodging tacklers and buying time so his receivers could get open. Then he would often toss them the ball while he was still on the move. Or sometimes he took off and ran with the ball. Tarkenton moved around so much that some called him “the Mad Scrambler.”

Lots of so-called football experts thought Tarkenton wouldn’t be successful with his scrambling style of play. They also thought he would get hurt running around so much. One day, they warned, a big defensive lineman would crush Tarkenton and his scrambling days would be over.

Boy, were they wrong. Tarkenton was terrific on the field. He completed 57 percent of his passes and threw for 47,003 yards and 342 touchdowns. Tarkenton also
ran for 3,674 yards and 32 touchdowns.

Tarkenton was so elusive and quick on his feet, he almost never got injured. He played in 246 games over eighteen pro seasons. When he retired following the 1978 season, Tarkenton held NFL career records in pass attempts, completions, yardage, and touchdowns, as well as the records for rushing yards by a quarterback and wins by a starting quarterback.

Tarkenton’s running and passing also turned his teams into winners. Even though the Vikings were an expansion team in 1961, four years later they had a winning record of 8–5–1 (eight wins, five losses, and one tie).

Following the 1966 season, the Vikings traded Tarkenton to the woeful New York Giants, who had won only one game that year. Over the next four seasons, Tarkenton and the Giants improved their record to 29 wins and 27 losses.

After the Giants traded Tarkenton back to Minnesota, the Mad Scrambler really took off. He led the Vikings to six straight
winning seasons and three Super Bowls. Tarkenton was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.

Fran Tarkenton wasn’t the only undersized NFL quarterback. Drew Brees, who was also listed at six feet, led the New Orleans Saints to a 31–17 win over the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV (that’s 44 in Roman numerals). In three seasons, Brees passed for more than 5,000 yards.

Russell Wilson isn’t even six feet tall. He’s listed at 5 feet 11 inches, but that hasn’t stopped him from being a Super Bowl–winning quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson uses his quick throwing action and football smarts to get the job done.

Athletes in other sports have done well despite not “looking the part.” For example, Cal Ripken Jr. was a big man—6 feet 4 inches and more than 200 pounds. Most baseball people thought he was “too big” to play shortstop. Until Ripken, most short-stops
were small, quick players who could scamper across the infield snagging ground balls.

Ripken started his major league career with the Baltimore Orioles as a third baseman. Then Ripken’s manager, Earl Weaver, decided to go against the baseball experts’ opinions and try Ripken at shortstop.

Like Tarkenton, Ripken proved the experts wrong. He was a terrific fielding shortstop. Ripken played thirteen straight seasons at shortstop, using his quick feet and long reach to snap up grounders and line drives. One reason Ripken could move quickly in spite of his size: he had been a top high school soccer player when he was growing up in Maryland.

While Ripken was considered too big to play shortstop, Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues was thought to be too short to play basketball. Many professional basketball players are 6 feet 7 inches or even taller. Bogues was 5 feet 3 inches—more than a foot shorter than most of the other players. Bogues,
however, became an expert dribbler and passer. Because he was so short, taller players found it almost impossible to get the ball away from him. He was also very good at stealing the ball from his opponents.

Bogues played for more than thirteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). During that time, Bogues had almost five times as many assists (passing to a teammate who scores the basket) as turnovers (giving the ball to your opponent).

Just as some people think that only players of a certain size should play certain games, others believe that only males should play football. But according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, more than 1,800 girls in the United States played football for their high schools in 2012. The number has been growing for years.

Many, like Savannah, are kickers. And yes, it is true that one girl, Brianna Amat, kicked the game-winning field goal on the
same night she was crowned Homecoming Queen at Pinckney High School in Michigan. They called Brianna the “Kicking Queen.”

But girls are playing many different positions for their high school football teams. For example, in 2012 Erin DiMeglio became the first female to play quarterback in the history of Florida high school athletics.

You see, it’s just like Coach Vittone said. In sports, it doesn’t matter if you
look
the part. What matters is being able to
play
the part. So don’t worry that you’re too big or too small, or whether you’re a girl or a boy. If you can help the team, you’ll get your chance to play the part.

The author wishes to thank

Steve Willertz,

a longtime youth football coach

from Severn, Maryland,

for his help with

the diagrams and

football terminology.

FRED BOWEN was a Little Leaguer who loved to read. Now he is the author of many action-packed books of sports fiction. He has also written a weekly sports column for kids in the
Washington Post
since 2000.

For thirteen years, Fred coached kids’ baseball and basketball teams. Some of his stories spring directly from his coaching experience and his sports-happy childhood in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Fred holds a degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from George Washington University. He was a lawyer for many years before retiring to become a full-time children’s author. Bowen has been a guest author at schools and conferences across the country, as well as the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., and The Baseball Hall of Fame.

Fred lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife Peggy Jackson. Their son is a college baseball coach and their daughter is a graduate student in Colorado studying to become a teacher.

For more information check out the author’s website at
www.fredbowen.com
.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 by Fred Bowen

Cover design by Tom Gonzalez and Nicola Carmack

Composition by Melanie McMahon Ives

ISBN 978-1-4976-8607-6

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