Saturday, November 21, 1998

Chip Hilton series makes a return

By Ken Garfield

Knight Ridder Newspapers

I can still see the Chip Hilton books lined up neatly in the bookcase of my bedroom, a collection more priceless than even baseball cards.

To me and millions of other American boys growing up in the '60s, Chip was more than some slugger on TV who hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth to win the World Series. He was the straight-A, high school sports star who hit the homer, dated the homecoming queen and valued sportsmanship at all times.

He was a hero to kids with stars in their eyes. He was the guy we wished we could be. And even though he was fictional, he was as real as the hope we carried in our heart. Play fair, work hard and listen to your parents and you, too, could grow up to be as straight and tall and happy as Chip Hilton.

Talk about a rally to rival anything Chip did on the field, have I got a comeback story for you. The Chip Hilton series is being republished 30 years after the books sold more than 2 million copies. The family of author Clair Bee decided it's time a new generation of kids have the privilege of reading these 23 stories of competition and glory.

Now all we have to do is get our kids to put down their video games and pick up a copy.

The Chip Hilton series has some strong spiritual backing behind it.

The publisher, Broadman & Holman, is a leader in the Christian book industry. The project's organizer, VisionQuest of Dallas, is a sports marketing firm that celebrates the positive side of sports. I introduced you last February to John Humphrey, a Wake Forest University graduate who joined VisionQuest to help fight the public perception that sports is only about money, trophies and Dennis Rodman.

Together, they've worked with Clair Bee's daughter and son-in-law to update the stories. Chip, for example, now owns a computer, and his mom works outside the home. They're also modernized their promotion strategy -- if you like Chip Hilton, you'll love the "Cruise With Chip" planned on the high seas in the summer of '99.

And, of course, a Chip Hilton Web site is in the works. Back in Chip's days, the web was the soft part of your baseball glove.

But the core of the Chip Hilton series is unchanged. He's still the hustling hero of Valley Falls High in Anywhere, U.S.A. He listens to every word Coach Rockwell tells him. He makes peace with angry teammate Joel "Fat" Ohlsen. And at the end of "Touchdown Pass," he faces the biggest crisis of his young life with a maturity beyond his teen-age years.

"Chip Hilton had learned a lot this football season," Clair Bee writes. "Funny, most of it had little to do with playing the game."

Such a revelation takes Chip and his readers into "Championship Ball," the second in a series just getting warmed up.

It's funny what stays with you through the years.

Growing up 30 years ago in a happy home where Dad worked, Mom cooked and I played ball until dark, a few memories remain as bright as yesterday's sunshine.

I remember all those stickball games against Sammy Gilbert. I remember carrying every lamp in the house out to the basketball court so we could shoot hoops into the night. And I remember the joy that came with grabbing each new Chip Hilton book the moment it arrived in the store.

It was like grabbing the final out in the championship game, when the sun always shone, Chip always triumphed and hope never waned.

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(Ken Garfield is the religion editor at The Charlotte Observer. Write to him at: The Charlotte Observer, 600 S. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28232.)

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(c) 1998, The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.).

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