Chappuis flew 21 missions as a radio operator and aerial gunner on B-25 bombers in the European Theater.

He led the 1947 Michigan team known as the "Mad Magicians" to an undefeated season and a 49–0 win over the USC Trojans in the 1948 Rose Bowl game.

He was one of the early passing specialists in an era where football players were just beginning to either play on offense or defense instead of both.

[2] His father—who had played quarterback for Denison University, which is located near Columbus, Ohio— was an executive with a porcelain products company in Toledo.

During World War II, Chappuis earned the rank of Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces.

[8] He flew his first mission, which was targeting a railroad bridge in the heavily fortified Brenner Pass on Christmas Day 1944.

[9] Chappuis' B-25 bomber was assigned to bomb a railroad tunnel in the Italian mountains north of the Po River.

"[3] Chappuis was rescued by an Italian partisan, Aldo Comucci, a 21-year-old who was in charge of one of the many underground groups operating in the area.

[9] Comucci and his band of resistance fighters got to Chappuis before the Germans and hid him and two other American flyers from the same plane for nearly three months until the end of the war.

[3] Chappuis and his crewmates finally reached a home in the small town of Asola, Italy, in the Province of Mantua, Lombardy, about 80 miles (130 km) from Milan.

[3][6] They passed the time playing cards with each other and with the Ugolini family with whom they stayed, and reading a well-worn copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

On the night the war ended, residents of Asola removed the seats from the town's theater for a victory ball.

While two orchestras played onstage, the liberated townspeople toasted the Americans, and Chappuis danced with the Ugolinis' daughters.

[10][11] When football season arrived in the fall, Chappuis was one of many veterans who returned to college and the gridiron after serving in the war.

Many of the returning veterans were not in prime football condition at the start of the 1946 season, and Coach Fritz Crisler "predicted it might be November before ex-servicemen were adjusted physically and mentally to play their top game.

[5] Chappuis set the new offensive mark in 1946 with a fractured bone in his wrist that he did not report until after the season had ended, at which time an operation was performed.

If I hadn't, there were so many capable candidates around who could have made good behind our front wall that I'd never have become a first-stringer by returning in the middle of the season.

[21] Chappuis appeared on the cover of the October 28, 1947 issue of Look magazine which featured pictures of him on the football field and at the fraternity house.

The contemporary football lingo described the basic attack as a "fullback spinner cycle with the backs deployed loosely."

[20] Chappuis drew considerable attention in the national press for his abilities as a passer, one of the game's first passing "specialists."

"[3] The Time article focused on the new era of specialization marked by coach Fritz Crisler's decision to field separate offensive and defensive units in 1947.

… In Michigan's first five games, Specialist Chappuis was on the field less than one-third of the time, but of the 27 passes he threw, 19 were complete – five of them for touchdowns...

'"[3] Another writer noted that Chappuis was "endowed with a passer's sixth sense, 'split vision,'"[13] and an ability to "pick out his receiver after one glance over the field.

"[3] Time also reported that Chappuis "learns easily, just as he does in the classroom, where he makes a C-plus average seemingly without ever opening a book.

Buck Dawson, the manager of the Michigan Yearbook who would go on to marry the daughter of Matthew Mann, was the proponent of the nomination.

Although tradition was upheld, Gestie's photograph appeared on the front page of the Los Angeles Times along with the caption "Overlooked Michigan Beauty.

"[30] Chappuis was also selected to play for coach Frank Leahy on the College All-Star squad against the Chicago Cardinals, who were the 1947 NFL Champions.

In June 1948, Chappuis signed with Branch Rickey's Brooklyn Dodgers of the AAFC after coach Carl Voyles outbid the Steelers for his services at $17,000.

[40] Rickey had felt that modern football was based on speed and that he could win with a good center, passing quarterback and two tall sprinting ends.

[46] He spent thirteen years with Central Soya Co. in Fort Wayne, Indiana, retiring in 1983 as the Vice President in charge of Labor Relations.