PBS produced a hockey card of George Plimpton to commemorate its American Masters film, Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself (Friday, 9 p.m. ET).

It is fitting that PBS chose hockey over football, which produced Plimpton’s more famous Paper Lion. He was a complete failure as a quarterback for the Detroit Lions.

However, Plimpton was far more successful when at age 50, he played goalie for the Boston Bruins in a preseason game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Sure, he flopped around the ice and looked woefully out-of-place. But on a penalty shot, deftly set up by the Bruins, he somehow managed to stop the Flyers’ high-scoring Reggie Leach.

As Plimpton skated off the ice to a standing ovation to the crowd, you could see the absolute joy in his face. He definitely was a man who lived life to his fullest.

And what a life.

The PBS documentary goes over the many facets of a true American original. While he was known in literary circles for being editor of the Paris Review and was close friends with Robert Kennedy, he made a huge impact as a participatory journalist with his best-selling books and work for Sports Illustrated.

I did a Q/A with Jerry Barca, one of the producers, on Plimpton’s work in sports. And I highly recommend the film.

What attracted Plimpton to sports? 

First and foremost, George had a boundless curiosity. He also liked to play sports growing up. Then you combine the curiosity and the enjoyment of the games with his talent as a writer and it becomes natural for him to craft these very unique sports stories.

Then to follow up, why do you think he went with participatory angle?

There are two key elements. As a writer, George really wanted to know what it was like to stand in the ring and take a punch from a boxing champ or get under center as a quarterback, stare at the defense, and bark out the snap count. What better way to write about those ventures than to truly experience them, and experience all the dynamics they entail — the teammates, the locker room comradery, and psychological aspect of having to perform under pressure. The other element is that oftentimes people watch sports, watch these great athletes, and say, “Oh, I can do that.” Well, George’s participatory endeavors in sports show it ain’t easy. As a matter of fact there is a great wide gap between the guy watching sports as a fan and the ones actually doing it. George’s pursuits prove that.

What do you think was his favorite experience from the sports front?

I really don’t know what George would pick here. I’d pick Paper Lion, where he played quarterback for the Detroit Lions. It was a look inside the NFL well before it became the mega-league it is today. There was nothing like it. The book took off with great success, and George became sort of a sex symbol along the way.

What was the craziest?

Well, he had scheduled to fight Muhammad Ali in the mid-1970s, but Ali got injured. Playing an April Fool’s Day trick in 1985 on the country through his Sports Illustrated article on the fictitious New York Mets pitcher Sidd Finch was pretty crazy, too. But, he was 50 years old when he got in goal for the Boston Bruins and faced the Philadelphia Flyers during the Broad Street Bullies era. That’s nuts. That book – Open Net – is my favorite one by Plimpton.

How did the literary folks regard the sports aspect of his life? Did they look down on him because he was a sportswriter?

Some did. For sure. Having read George pretty thoroughly though, he was a great writer, whether it was the realm of sports writing or any writing. On the surface, Plimpton is known for what some might call “stunts”. Those “stunts”, they are the literary devices that serve as the entry point, one where George takes you into the world of each endeavor. Then as you’re reading, at some point you realize, Plimpton is way in the background and you’re left with the complete picture of what it is like to be an athlete in that sport.

How do you view his legacy from a sportswriting perspective?

He was phenomenal and groundbreaking. Sports as an industry has changed so much, today you’ll never see what George did back then. Never. People try, and there are great writers that try today. But there are too many handlers for the players and clubs to replicate what George achieved in his era. That unadulterated access Plimpton had is something that is highly unlikely to happen again today, or at anytime in the near future.