John Gordy who, along with Alex Karras, was the inspiration for Plimpton's 1973 book Mad Ducks and Bears. In the Colts' 23–20 loss to the Lions before a crowd of 91,745, Plimpton was the quarterback for four unofficial plays at the end of the first half which were for the filming of the television special. Wearing uniform number 1, he handed the ball off twice, had a short pass batted down and gained two yards on a quarterback draw before being hit in the ribs by Jim Mitchell and helped to his feet by Karras who had tackled him. Bill Curry wrote in a September 25, 2003 ESPN.com column that Plimpton won the respect of the Colts players beginning on the first day of training camp by requesting to participate in the nutcracker drill and continuing to take snaps under center despite having dislocated his right thumb. Plimpton also performed all the preseason activities with his teammates and lasted the entire training camp. Curry and Plimpton became longtime friends and coauthors of One More July which was released in 1977. References 1966 non-fiction books American football books Non-fiction books adapted into films Detroit Lions Harper & Row books