Red Grange
Harold Edward "Red" Grange, born on June 13, 1903, in Forksville, Pennsylvania, is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in American football history. After losing his mother at a young age, Grange's family moved to Wheaton, Illinois, where he excelled in multiple sports during high school, particularly track. He gained national recognition at the University of Illinois, where his remarkable speed and agility earned him the nickname "The Galloping Ghost." Grange's college career peaked with his performance against Michigan in 1924, solidifying his status as a football star.
Transitioning to professional football, Grange's partnership with agent Charles C. Pyle marked a turning point in the sport's commercialization. He signed with the Chicago Bears, drawing significant crowds and contributing to the growing popularity of professional football in the 1920s. Although his later career was affected by injuries, Grange continued to impact the sport both as a player and later as a coach and announcer. He is remembered not only for his athletic prowess but also for elevating the status of the sport during a formative period in its history. Grange passed away in 1991, leaving behind a legacy that reshaped American football.
Red Grange
Football Player
- Born: June 13, 1903
- Birthplace: Forksville, Pennsylvania
- Died: January 28, 1991
- Place of death: Lake Wales, Florida
Sport: Football
Early Life
Harold Edward “Red” Grange was born June 13, 1903, in Forksville, Pennsylvania, where his father worked as a foreman in a lumber camp. When he was five years old, his mother died. Needing help to raise his sons, Red’s father moved the family to Wheaton, Illinois—where he had relatives—and became a policeman and, eventually, chief of police.
In high school and college, Red earned his spending money delivering ice. In those prerefrigerator days, families kept food cold in a box that required a new 100-pound block of ice every few days. Carrying those heavy slabs on his back helped build strength in the husky redhead’s legs. Sportswriters later referred to him as “The Wheaton Ice Man.” Red became a star athlete at Wheaton High School, winning sixteen letters in football, basketball, baseball, and track. Of the four sports, football was his least favorite. In track, he won all nineteen events he entered as a senior, and he often said he “could play basketball or baseball all day, but football was work.”
The Road to Excellence
Impressed by the 75 touchdowns Red scored as a Wheaton halfback, Robert Zuppke encouraged Red to attend the University of Illinois, where Zuppke was head coach. In the fall of 1922, Red enrolled at the university and became a member of the varsity team the next year. In his first game for the Illini, Red rushed for 208 yards and scored 3 touchdowns. That fall, he led the nation in rushing, and was named to Walter Camp’s All-American team.
Red had unusual speed and plenty of power. But his greatest attribute was a mystifying change of pace that left tacklers grasping empty air. The famous sportswriter Grantland Rice dubbed Red “The Galloping Ghost.” Red’s greatest game came against archrival Michigan when Illinois dedicated its new Memorial Stadium in 1924. Red ran the opening kickoff back 95 yards for a touchdown, then scored 3 more touchdowns in the next 12 minutes on runs of 67, 56, and 44 yards. After sitting out the second quarter, he ran 15 yards for a fifth touchdown in the third quarter. In the final period, he threw a touchdown pass to account for all of his team’s points in a 39-14 win. In 1924, he was a unanimous all-American. In 1925, Red gained 363 yards on a muddy field to lead Illinois over Pennsylvania; he again was named all-American.
The Emerging Champion
Red was the biggest star in football. Huge crowds came to see him. His quiet modesty and dedication to hard work added to his popularity. Many football fans across the country wrote to Red urging him against playing professional football, which was a minor sport at the time and considered unsavory compared to the “pure” college game. However, Red felt it was more honest for him to make money as a football player than to use his name as a front for some enterprise he knew nothing about. Midway through his final season at Illinois, he made a handshake agreement to let Charles C. Pyle, an Illinois theater owner, manage his career. Pyle thus became, in effect, the first player agent.
After Red’s final college game, he went to Chicago with Pyle and signed a contract with George Halas of the NFL’s Chicago Bears. The following Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, he took the field for the Bears against the crosstown Chicago Cardinals before the first pro football sellout in Wrigley Field history. After drawing another packed house on Sunday, Red and the Bears launched a barnstorming tour in which the team played as many as four games a week against league and nonleague teams. The crowds were enormous. In New York, where the Giants were struggling through their first season, the magic of Red’s appeal brought out an estimated 70,000 fans. When the tour ended in California, in January, Red, who received 30 percent of the gate, was a wealthy man.
Continuing the Story
In 1926, when Red and Pyle could not reach a contract agreement with the Bears, they tried to start their own NFL franchise, proposing to play in New York’s Yankee Stadium. The Giants, who played at the Polo Grounds, had exclusive rights to the city as far as the league was concerned. Rebuffed, Red and Pyle launched their own American Football League, with Red as the featured star of the New York Yankees. Although the “Grange League” was a financial failure, the NFL was forced to take the Yankees in as a new franchise in 1927.
Midway through the 1927 season, Red’s knee was badly damaged in a pileup. He limped through the rest of the schedule, but announced his retirement for 1928. Without him, the Yankees collapsed and handed the franchise back to the league. During 1928, Red starred in several forgettable movies, made radio appearances, and endorsed various products. Though he was making money, he yearned to get back into football. In 1929, he rejoined the Chicago Bears. Red always maintained that the 1928 knee injury took away his maneuverability and left him “just an ordinary halfback,” but he earned all-NFL honors in 1930 and 1931 and played for league championship teams in 1932 and 1933. In addition to his running, he became known as the league’s best defensive back.
After his football career, Red served as a Bear’s assistant coach through 1937. He then worked at a successful insurance business in Chicago, where he also became a popular play-by-play announcer for college and professional games on radio and television. After a 1951 heart attack, Red and his wife retired to a pleasant life of golf, fishing, and boating in Florida. He died in 1991.
Summary
Red Grange’s career at Illinois was remarkable, and many still consider him the greatest runner in college football history. His unprecedented popularity was the result of his unassuming personality, sensational running, and the fact that sports became front page news in the 1920s. Red’s professional career, though excellent, was not as spectacular. Nevertheless, by bringing sell-out crowds to professional games for the first time, he popularized the sport and raised its stature tremendously.
Bibliography
Carroll, John M. Red Grange and the Rise of Modern Football. Urbana: U of I Press, 2004. Print.
Grange, Red, and Ira Morton. The Red Grange Story: An Autobiography. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1993. Print.
Platt, Jim, and James Buckley. Sports Immortals: Stories of Inspiration and Achievement. Chicago: Triumph, 2002. Print.
Whittingham, Richard. What a Game They Played: An Inside Look at the Golden Era of Pro Football. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2002. Print.