THE CADILLAC

A TRUE COLLEGE FOOTBALL LEGEND

Steve Wadiak’s bliss was a football tucked under his arm and an open field ahead of him. From the sandlots of Chicago’s south side, where he rose from mascot to water boy to running back, and on through two-years of Naval service and his training as an aerial gunner during World War II, Steve’s dream remained the same—to play football in the National Football League. A train ride to Columbia, South Carolina in 1948 followed by an impromptu tryout propelled his dream forward. Wadiak became a college football legend during a record-breaking four year career at the University of South Carolina. His nickname, “The Cadillac” associated him with the most well-engineered and classiest automobile of the day. He was the  “big man” on campus and a matinee idol throughout the state of South Carolina. Yet despite the constant flow of accolades and attention, he remained a humble and approachable superstar which endeared him forever to the common man.  In 1952, shortly after his senior season, Steve was an early draft selection of the Pittsburgh Steelers and he moved ever so close to fulfilling his lifelong dream, before his life intersected with tragedy.

The Cadillac chronicles the life of Wadiak and is filled with never-before-told stories and insights from the iconic life of a true college football legend. It is a must read for football fans of all ages and a historical treasure for University of South Carolina Gamecock faithful.

ORDER YOUR COPY

REVIEWS

“The feats of Steve Wadiak on the gridiron field are legendary in South Carolina and much of this nation. However, his greatest achievement would be in how he spent his life and how it would inspire other people once they read this wonderful story…”

- Lou Holtz, College Football Hall of Fame Coach
ESPN Analyst

“As gripping and inspirational account of one of the South’s greatest football heroes that I have ever read. We are in Mike Chibbaro’s debt for making Wadiak’s story accessible to the American public.”

- Colonel Cole C. Kingseed, U.S. Army (Ret.)
co-author of The New York Times best-selling
 Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters

“Growing up in South Carolina, I remember Steve Wadiak. He really was a Cadillac . . . on and off the field.”

- Bobby Richardson, New York Yankee World Series MVP (1960)
Former University of South Carolina Head Baseball Coach