George Gipp…Laid To Rest Again!
I was outraged when I heard that his body had been exhumed in what appeared to be, shady circumstances…I was right. They dug up George after they mistakingly dug up his sister’s grave. ESPN is a party to this, and I am sickened:
A recent attempt to prove that he fathered a child with an 18-year-old high school student in 1920 has been swatted down like a wobbly pass.
Results of the DNA tests conducted on a sample of Gipp’s right femur and the blood of a woman who claimed to be his daughter were returned Thursday, and they did not reveal a match.
With DNA, couldn’t a living family member have been tested in order to set up a family link, prior to digging up The Gipper? Sheesh…And what was really behind this?
One of the people to whom Karl Gipp is referring is Mike Bynum, a Birmingham, Ala., author of six sports books and editor of many more, who started this latest chapter in the Legend of George Gipp in August of this year while doing research online. He happened on a posting from August 2005 on a genealogy Web site by a woman looking for information about the George Gipp family. Bynum said he located the woman, Ellen Easton, and began talking to her about finding out whether her mother, known as Bette Easton, born four days after Gipp’s death, was the daughter of George Gipp.
Bynum was hopeful that the manuscript he was working on would become more interesting to publishers because of the paternity question. Less than two months later, Bynum invited a production crew from the new ESPN show “E:60″ to be on hand for the exhuming of Gipp’s remains in Laurium, Mich.
Nothing says rating like showing a grave being dug up….
It is against that backdrop that the citizens of Laurium and nearby Calumet viewed the proceedings of the past month. Bynum said he understood their viewpoint and did not believe he did anything to show any disrespect to Gipp or to Laurium.
“When we were researching how to help Paula and Ellen get the answer, I talked to Orchid Cellmark, which is one of the best in the business,” Bynum said, referring to a DNA lab in Dallas. He said the lab said the only way to get the DNA was to exhume the body. “It was not our first choice ” it was the only choice.”
Bynum did nothing to disrespect Gipp? He dug a body up that had been interred for 87 years. The man was not a relative, nor was it his business to get involved in a family dispute…He video taped it in order to make a buck, so I do think he has a great deal to be sorry for! He approched them:
To Ellen Weeks Easton,
I am editing a book for the family of George Gipp. I would like to talk to you about your mother, Bette L. Bright. There is a way to confirm if she is his daughter through DNA. Please contact me at mjbsports2@yahoo.com
November 13, 2007 - 07:41 AM on November 13th, 2007
This was Bullsh*t from the Getgo, and I pointed it out then.
November 13, 2007 - 08:00 AM on November 13th, 2007
I actually feel bad for Ellen Easton. I really believe she had no idea until after the fact that Gipp was being dug up!
Is this where society is? We dig up the dead to sell a book?
November 13, 2007 - 08:15 AM on November 13th, 2007
2, Pam, the law in Michigan is screwed up because there was legal sanction to do this. I think that there should have been the nessity to prove VERY probable that Gipp was the father before exhumation was even considered.
November 13, 2007 - 08:21 AM on November 13th, 2007
Actually, if you read the article, that may not be true PCD. It appears that they may have been able to do this under false pretenses.
The DNA testing on a living relative was my point…