Chip Hilton
Volume 16 (1958)
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| Author | Clair Bee |
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| Country | United States of America |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Sports |
| Publisher | Grosset & Dunlap |
| Published | 1948-1966 (#1-23) 2002 (#24) |
| Media type | |
William "Chip" Hilton is the central character in a series of 24 sports novels for adolescent boys written by the successful college basketball coach and 1968 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Clair Bee (1896–1983). In addition to Bee's authorship of the Chip Hilton series, he was also the author of several basketball and coaching technique books. The Chip Hilton series was published between 1948 and 1966 by Grosset & Dunlap, with Bee's last manuscript, Fiery Fullback, published in 2002.
The series hero excels in football, basketball and baseball, and is often placed in the position of persuading his less-than-perfect teammates to play his way and share his values—with winning championships being the result. Stories have two or three subplots, sometimes unrelated to sports, and one title is distinguished for tackling racism. The Chip Hilton books sold 2.2 million copies, and, in 1997, the NCAA founded the Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award.
In the late 1990s, the series was re-issued by a Nashville religious book publishing house with the co-operation of Bee's children. The original series is highly collectible, with some titles being worth hundreds of dollars.
Unlike other Grosset & Dunlap boys series books of the period, the Chip Hilton stories are distinguished by a greater degree of psychological interest. The staidly perfect Chip serves as a foil for his much more human fellow characters. Chip Hilton excels at all major sports, except hockey and soccer. Like most series books heroes, he does have a love interest, but spends much of his time with his buddies: "Biggie," "Soapy," "Speed" and "Fireball" in pursuit of sports. His occasional girl friend is Mitzi, the head cashier at his employer's drug store, whom he once daydreamed about her while looking in a storefront at a display for dancing lessons. Chip was based on Seton Hall basketball player Bob Davies, and Chip's coach, Henry "The Rock" Rockwell, was based on Bee himself.
Chip Hilton books are always about football, basketball, or baseball. The most notable book in the series is Hoop Crazy, which examines the difficulties facing a black player wanting to join the basketball team. This is the only Chip Hilton book addressing social issues, and it does so in a compelling manner, although some of the early works did mention a great "negro" athlete, Miner, who played for one of the Big Reds' major rivals, Steeltown. Miner was presented as a gifted athlete without controversy over his participation; portraying an African-American athlete as accepted by teammate and foe alike. The reference is all the more interesting considering that the first books were written in the late 40s and early 50s when many pro teams, and even leagues, were yet to feature a black athlete. Tournament Crisis dealt with a team member who was Chinese and struggled to be included as a part of the team. He is initially depicted as angry and hard to like, and Chip works to help him and bring him around.
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