Home for the summer, college athlete Chip Hilton hopes to occupy the restless and destructive young people of the town by involving them in a sports program, with an emphasis on baseball.

When Valley Falls is plagued with young vandals and a few violent incidents, Doc Jones and the mayor ask Chip for help. His solution: a summer sports program that should inspire youth to do something worthwhile for the town in which they live.

A smooth-talking man who claims to have played basketball with Chip's father creates dissension on the Valley Falls high school team and plans to use Big Chip's pottery formula in his latest scam.

This history of American sports fiction traces depictions of baseball, basketball and football in works for all age levels from early dime novels through the 1960s. Chapters cover dime novel heroes Frank and Dick Merriwell; the explosion of sports novels before World War II and its influence on the authors who later wrote for baby boom readers; how sports novels persisted during the Great Depression; the rise and decline of sports pulps; why sports comics failed; postwar heroes Chip Hilton and Bronc Burnett; the lack of sports fiction for females; Duane Decker's Blue Sox books; and the classic John R. Tunis novels. Appendices list sports pulp titles and comic books featuring sports fiction.

As a member of the freshman football team at State University, Chip Hilton encounters cliques, rivalries, and a conspiracy by the Booster Association to favor some players over others.

Hoop Crazy - A smooth-talking man who claims to have played basketball with Chip's father creates dissension on the Valley Falls high school team and plans to use Big Chip's pottery formula in his latest scam. Backboard Fever - When an injury prevents him from joining the college basketball team, Chip keeps busy serving as an emergency replacement coach for the high school and participating in an important basket shooting tournament. Tournament Crisis - Rivals for a starting assignment on State University's varsity basketball team, Chip Hilton and Jimmy Chung wage a fierce contest for the honor. When Jimmy's father becomes ill, Jimmy must leave State to run the family's restaurant. Chip masterminds a solution that benefits the Chung family, Jimmy, and the State U basketball team.