Summary of Buzz Bissinger's The Mosquito Bowl

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 John Jackson McLaughry was a total badass. He wore his brown hair combed forward in the style of Clark Kent, the superhero alter ego of Superman. He had a Clark Kent smile. He could make people feel like they were in the right place at the right time when he was around. He was someone you wanted to be around. He was your older brother. This is how he introduced himself to me: Hi, I’m John. You can call me John. I don’t remember what I said in response. Maybe I was intimidated by his presence, or maybe I was just in awe of this guy who seemed to have it all together and also knew my name and knew it by the first letter. Maybe I was already homesick or just anxious about starting a new chapter of my life away from home and Brown, but my memory is blank. When you are six or seven years old and your parents take you to the theater for the first time, you don’t know what to make of it, so you just sit there and stare at the stage in wonder and maybe a little fear.

#2 John McLaughry was a total badass. He introduced himself to me as John, and I was in awe of him.

#3 John McLaughry was a total badass. He introduced himself to me as John, and I was in awe of him. He had choices after college, remarkable ones: graduate school in art, an executive training program in business, or a career in pro football.

#4 John McLaughlin was a total badass. He introduced himself to me as John, and I was in awe of him. He had choices after college: graduate school in art, an executive training program in business, or a career in pro football.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Oct 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798350039658

IRB Media

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Insights on Buzz Bissinger's The Mosquito Bowl

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The graduation ceremony at Brown University was led by John Jackson McLaughry, class president and football captain. He was also the marshal of the 1940 commencement. He was known nationwide for crushing his opponents without mercy on offense and defense.

#2

McLaughry was a big man on campus, but in pictures you rarely see him smiling. He had done so in the 1937 game against Dartmouth College on the opening kickoff, and then a second collision during the same game had actually reset his nose.

#3

McLaughlin was drafted by the New York Giants in the third round of the 1940 draft. He was not sure if he wanted to pursue the opportunity. The pro game was not held in high esteem, and many of those who played were considered one step up from felons.

#4

Tuss McLaughlin was a famous college football coach in the 1930s. He had become a legend at the age of thirty-two in 1926, leading a Brown team that not only went undefeated but became known as the Iron Men. His sons, John and Robert, were both football players.

#5

McLaughry was extremely successful at Andover, graduating with a 63-point average. His Latin was a mess, and his French not so hot either. He was a runner-up for the Yale Prize for an English history essay he wrote.

#6

McLaughry was a member of one of Andover’s prestigious societies, and he fit in well with the school’s social scene. He also learned how to wait on students in the commons, and he was frequently heralded as one of the best blocking backs in the country.

#7

In 1935, John was on the varsity team, and the team went 3–7. In 1936, the varsity team had winning records, but the freshman team with John as captain had an undefeated season. In 1937, John was on the varsity team, and the team went 1–8.

#8

McLaughry was one of five who passed the physical exam for pilot training with the US Army Air Corps. He was married to Jane Pitts in 1942. She had grown up in Providence and was the sister of a friend of McLaughry’s from Brown.

#9

Lives are lived to learn. One should profit by his mistakes and live in the future with the errors of the past firmly planted in his mind. It can take many mistakes not just one to indelibly print on one’s mind the meaning and true worth of the errors he has made.

#10

Schreiner was a very complex man who had a difficult time dealing with the media and