SilentPunt Podcast 217 / July 2, 2026
This week on the SilentPunt Podcast, I’m joined by Christopher Warner, author of Playing for Keeps: Legendary Athletes in Combat During World War II. Since this is a July 4th edition of the show, we talk about athletes who did more than simply serve during the war. These were men who had already become champions, stars, record-setters, and future Hall of Famers — and then found themselves in places where the stakes were no longer wins, losses, trophies, or box scores.
Chris and I get into the stranger-than-fiction life of Barney Ross, Bob Feller’s decision to enlist after Pearl Harbor, Tom Harmon’s survival story, Emlen Tunnell’s heroism in the Coast Guard, Yogi Berra’s D-Day experience, and Chuck Bednarik’s time as a B-24 gunner before becoming “Concrete Charlie.” We also talk about Chris’s own background as an athlete, writer, actor, and historian, and why he wanted the book to move across baseball, football, boxing, track, swimming, bobsled, and more.
📚 Chapters
00:00 — Welcome to the July 4th episode
01:13 — Barney Ross: boxer, Marine, war hero, and survivor
06:59 — Jack Ruby, Stallone, and the strange threads of history
08:15 — Who made the book — and why some famous names didn’t
10:07 — Chris Warner’s path from athlete to writer
13:31 — Bob Feller, family history, and the roots of the book
16:59 — Uncle Tom, glider pilots, and family war history
18:34 — Tom Harmon: Heisman winner, plane crashes, and survival
23:48 — Warren Spahn, false praise, and getting war stories right
26:07 — Veterans’ silence and what they carried home
29:22 — Emlen Tunnell: heroism, race, and forgotten greatness
36:52 — Yogi Berra, D-Day, and real pressure
38:25 — Chuck Bednarik, B-24s, and football toughness
43:02 — Where to find Playing for Keeps and final thoughts
