Red Grange

At 87 years old, Red Grange has this physical status:

Harold Edward "Red" Grange, 1903-1903 – January 28, 1991), nicknamed "The Galloping Ghost" by the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and the short-lived New York Yankees, was an American football halfback.

His union with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League (NFL).

He was the only unanimous All-American candidate running back in 1924, who was not a member of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame.

Grange was named the first recipient of the Chicago Tribune Silver Football Award as the Big Ten Conference's Most Valuable Player of the Year last year.

He was named by ESPN in 2008 as the best college football player of all time, and in 2011, the Big Ten Network named him the Best Big Ten Icon. Shortly after his last college game in 1925, Grange joined the Bears and the NFL, embarking on a barnstorming tour to lift the league's attention around the country.

In 1926, Joe and agent C. C. Pyle formed the American Football League, with Grange playing for the Yankees when his rookie contract came to an end.

The franchise lasted just one year before closing down, and the Yankees were assimilated into the league.

In 1927, Grange sustained a serious knee injury that prevented him from playing the following season, and he returned to the Bears in 1929.

He stayed with the team until he retired from football in 1934, and then went back to the Bears as a backfield coach for three seasons. He is a charter member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame.

Early life

Red Grange was born in Forksville, Pennsylvania, on June 13, 1903, a village of about 200 people in the lumber camps. Lyle's father was the foreman of three lumber camps. His mother died when he was just five years old. For a number of years, the Grange family lived with relatives until they were able to buy a house of their own in Wheaton, Illinois. Lyle, the chief of police in Wheaton, has been named.

Grange earned 16varsity letters in football, baseball, basketball, and track over four years at Wheaton High School; he had 75 touchdowns and 532 points for the football team. Grange, a high school senior, earned 36 touchdowns and led Wheaton High School to an undefeated season. His team won every game except one, in which they lost 39–0 to Scott High School in Toledo, Ohio, in his senior season. Since being knocked out of this game, Grange remained unconscious for two days and had trouble speaking when he awakened. Grange was also a cross-state track and field runner. He was a state champion in the high jump and came third and fourth in the 100-yard dash and the 220-yard dash in 1920, respectively. He took the state championship in both the long jump and 100-yard dash in 1921, and in 1922, he finished third in the 100-yard dash and took first place in the 220-yard dash. He completed the 100-yard dash in 9.8 seconds, according to a 1975 interview with American Heritage Grange [at the time, this was just one-fifth of a second off the world (and American) records].

He took up ice toting as a family's money earner, earning him $37.50 a week, a job that helped him to establish his core strength and from which he acquired the nicknames "Ice Man" and "the Wheaton Ice Man" were born.

Later life

Grange left professional football in 1937 and worked in a variety of occupations, including motivational speaker and sports announcer. In the 1950s, he introduced The Bears games for CBS television and college football (including the Sugar Bowl) for NBC. In 1941, Grange married Margaret, nicknamed Muggs, and they were together until his death in 1991. She was a flight attendant, and they met on a plane. There were no children at the time.

He was an insurance broker in Chicago during the 1940s. He was named president of the United States Football League in December 1944, a newly formed "gridiron world series" with plans to begin the following year. However, he left his position in June 1945 and the league later folded without playing a single game after the NFL expanded to its target markets. From 1947 to 1949, Grange served as the National Girls Baseball League as its president.

He was elected as a Republican to the Board of Trustees of University of the Illinois, on which he served from 1951 to 1955.

The Red Grange Story, his autobiography, was first published in 1953. The book was written "as told to" Ira Morton, a syndicated newspaper columnist from Chicago. In his last year of life, Grange suffered Parkinson's disease and died on January 28, 1991, in Lake Wales, Florida.

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Professional career

After the 1925 Ohio State game, Grange officially announced his intention to sign with the Bears, but other NFL clubs expressed an interest in signing him. The Rochester Jeffersons made a last-ditch attempt to re-sign him at $5,000 per game, but the team was unable to do so, a significant factor in the team's demise. The New York Giants also paid him $40,000, a charge denied by team executive Harry March, although NFL owner Tim Mara said the NFL did not encourage college players to sign with teams and also had limits on how much money a team could afford. Still, Mara went to Chicago on the same day that Grange signed with the Bears and secured a game against them in December.

Many in college football sluggish, but professional football was seen as a commercialized, weaker brand of its college counterpart. Head coaches Amos Alonzo Stagg and Yost of Illinois and Michigan were well-known opponents, as had Illinois athletic director George Huff and Zuppke. "I'd be keen to see Grange do something else than playing professional football," Yost said once. On their return to their hotel from an Ohio State game, Zuppke's taxi driver would take several routes to prolong the ride and potentially convince Grange to reconsider their decision. In reaction, Grange wondered why he should not be compensated for playing football if Zuppke was getting paid as a coach. The two men will not meet again until the Illini team banquet weeks later; during his address, Zuppke openly mocked Grange, causing an angry Grange to leave. Herbert Reed of The Outlook wrote an article titled "De-Grange Football" that used Grange's surname as a verb in January 1926: to "grange" a game, that is to "grange" it.

Pyle officially recruited Pyle as his agent and signed with the Bears on November 22. During an age when average league wages were less than $100/game, his salary and a portion of gate receipts equaled $100,000. He attended the Bears' game against the Green Bay Packers at Cubs Park, before joining his new teammates. They lost 21–0. Tim Callahan, a former Yale footballer, also announced that he had won Grange for a December Florida league he had helped with.

Grange is the last player to play both college football and football in the same season. The NFL passed the "Red Grange Rule" in 1926 to forbid future players from doing the same, as well as requiring NFL hopefuls' graduating classes to have left college in various instances. The Bears signed Notre Dame fullback Joe Savoldi in 1930, but he had been barred from school and kicked out of the team, in violation of the Grange Rule's graduation class prerequisite. The Bears argued that since Savoldi had been suspended, he was no longer a member of his Class of 1931; the team would be fined $1,000 per game Savoldi played in. When TCU running back Kenneth Davis tried to return to the league in 1986 after being suspended one game in his senior year, the NFL retained the rule prohibiting players from playing in college and NFL games in the same season.

Grange made his NFL debut against the Chicago Cardinals on November 26, November 26, on November 26, Thanksgiving Day. In a scoreless tie, the Bears' T formation only had three days of practice (he had participated in the single wing offense in college). The game was attended by a crowd of 40,000 people. The Bears defeated the Columbus Tigers 14-7 in their next game against the Tigers. He threw a touchdown pass and 171 yards. Britton signed with the Bears less than a year later, reuniting him with Grange.

The Bears' schedule increased in December with eight games between December 2 and 13, including three against local all-star teams. In a 39–6 victory over Grange's first game against the Donnelly All-Stars at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, the team scored four touchdowns. He scored two touchdowns, including the game-winner against the Frankford Yellow Jackets on December 5. Between 65,000 and 73,000 people attended the Grange on the next day, helping the Giants' franchise avoid financial debt. In the Bears' 19–7 victory, Grange scored a touchdown on a 35-yard interception return. He ran for 53 yards on 11 attempts, caught a 23-yard pass, and caught two of three passes for 32 yards. Pyle and Grange decided to remain in New York to advertise themselves before their next game against a Washington, D.C. all-star team.

The Bears welcomed President Calvin Coolidge to the team and shook hands with Grange, Coolidge said, "Glad to meet you." "I never liked animal acts." Despite beating Washington 19–0, Grange had only 16 passing yards, no receiving and return yards, and missed a field goal.

Despite the victories, the strenuous schedule resulted in an increase in injuries. During the Giants' game, Grange was struck in the left arm, causing it to swell in the team's next game against the Providence Steam Rollers. The pain from the injury was too much for Grange, who didn't have to return a punt and let it sail over his head; he was eventually suspended in the 9–6 loss. Fans and journalists alike blasted the match, with a United News Service article describing it as dangerously near to the bursting point. The red-headed youngster's fame may melt away like some of his own ice, leaving only a little dank, smelly sawdust," Beneath the tense, pitiless spotlight of fame. The game was also shown as evidence of professional football's ineligibility, according to referee E. J. O'Brien, who called it a "dismal failure." However, some, including Princeton and Yale players Herbert Treat and Carl Flanders, defended the sport and the Bears because their schedule was too crowded, and the former said it had "a promising future."

In his autobiography, Grange wrote, "I was booed for the first time in my football career in the Boston game." "It made me aware of something I had never expected" before: the public's reaction towards a professional football player is quite different from that of a college gridder's. A pro's result is scrutinized more closely, and he is less likely to be excusen if a mistake is made. A pro must produce, or else."

Following the game, Grange recruited E. B. Cooley as his personal doctor. Cooley was the father of Grange's friend and personal advisor Marion "Doc" Cooley, who was in charge of their university classmate Dinty Moore. Lyman "Beans" DeWolf, the team's close friend, joined the team as a confidant at Grange's father's request.

The Bears' next game against a Pittsburgh all-star team was in poor shape; before kickoff, former All-American Bo McMillin visited the team in the locker room and told Grange not to play until seeing his arm. Only ten players were on the field at the start, causing Halas to choose between two injured linemen to serve as the required 11th man; center George Trafton was chosen because he was able to stand and walk. Andy Lotshaw, a footballer who had never played football before, was also called to play tackle. Grange attempted to stop halftime Johnny Mohardt from playing but he suffered a torn ligament and a broken blood vessel in his arm, resulting in arterial hemorrhaging. The Bears eventually lost 24–0.

Chicago called off a game against an all-star team in Cleveland due to Grange's injury, causing the designer to sue for breach of contract. Although Grange expressed excitement in playing the next game against the Detroit Panthers, he was forced to cancel due to a blood clot clot in his arm; the Bears lost 21–0. The Giants' final game of the December tour ended in a 9–0 loss. "No other team before or after has ever attempted such a grueling schedule as the 1925 Bears, and I'm positive never will," Grange wrote in his autobiography.

The Bears defeated the Bears 5–4–1.

The Bears went to Florida on December 21 to compete in Callahan's Florida league. To prevent more injuries in the first tour, the team decided to have week-long breaks between weeks in which they played games on consecutive days. In the 7–0 victory over a Coral Gables, Florida team's first game four days later, Grange scored the lone touchdown and gained 89 rushing yards.

Grange is believed to have been involved in a boxing match in the days leading up to his game against the Tampa Cardinals on January 1, 1926, but he did not accept. Jim Barnes and Johnny Farrell, as well as Olympic swimmer Helen Wainwright, were arrested in the evening before the game, and the speed limit was 55 mph (72 km/h). The four children were released after Grange charged the police officer $25. He scored on a 70-yard touchdown run in the Bears' 17–3 victory over the Cardinals.

Grange and Pyle had invested $17,000 apiece in real estate to cash in on the 1920s' Florida land boom, but hurricanes forced the time to an end. The Bears played a Jacksonville team starring former Stanford All-American Ernie Nevers the day after the Cardinals game. Although Nevers excelled in the game, Grange threw a 30-yard touchdown pass in the 19–6 victory.

The Bears took on a Southern-based all-star team in New Orleans after a one-week rest period. As the Bears shut down New Orleans 14–0, Grange had 136 passing yards and a touchdown, as well as a 51-yard punt return that was nullified by a holding penalty. The team then traveled to Los Angeles to face the Los Angeles Wildcats, led by Washington Huskies football player George "Wildcat" Wilson, an admirer of Grange who decided to participate in the game offered the opportunity to play against him. Wilson will also be leading future opponents on the tour in San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. The Bears defeated the Tigers 17–7, with over 65,000 people in attendance at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Grange scored a touchdown. The Bears defeated a team in San Diego 14–0, a game in which Grange was "listless throughout" until he scored a two-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. In the 14–9 loss, he was limited to 41 passing yards and throw an interception.

Five touchdowns were scored in Portland, Grange, and Britton, with three of which were by the latter. For a second, Grange threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Laurie Walquist and ran 45 yards for a second, but the 60-3 victory was overturned before halftime after being injured in a pile-up.

The Bears competed in the Seattle All-Stars on January 31, the day after the Portland game. Wilson and teammate Rollie Corbett were unable to play in the 34–0 victory, and Wilson and his teammate Rollie Corbett were injured; the former broke his leg, prompting Grange, Pyle, and Wilson establishing a fund to assist him. The three children each received $50.

In the late December and January tour, the Bears went 8-1. Pyle released Grange's last rookie check of $50,000 straight after the Seattle game. Grange made $125,000 in his rookie season. "Charlie had kept his word." In his autobiography, Grange wrote, "I thought I could go on to make it a million."

Although supporters have criticized Grange's barnstorming tours for saving the NFL and professional football, detractors have sluggishly dismissed this story considering his injuries and unimpressive results.

Although Grange was generally outperformed by his colleagues when attendance for the Florida games was poor and organizers lost money, his fame drew attention, especially on the West Coast, and the money he earned was more than he "could have earned in any other market during the same period," Don Maxwell wrote in a February 1926 column. On the other hand, Vito Stellino of The Baltimore Sun compared Grange's decision to join the NFL to Herschel Walker's decision to join the newly formed United States Football League in the 1990s; although Walker was a common name, the NFLFC later fell; Stellino's film instead suggested that television enhanced the NFL, while Grange's legend was "too embedded in the American sports psyche to disprove now." Anyway, it's a better story than the truth.

According to football historian John M. Carroll, the tours promoted the belief that professional football was led by some superstars, putting the player in jeopardy if they choose to play while injured. Others feared games could be manipulated to favor the star players, with Brooklyn Dodgers owner/player Shipwreck Kelly claiming that he and Halas and the Bears had reached an agreement to allow Grange to run long in a 1934 postseason exhibition game. However, Carroll's addition of Grange helped expedite the NFL's growth: a car's growth was aided by its father, Grange.

In 1985, Grange emphasized the tours' value to the NFL, but noted that the league offered little assistance to the players from the time: "I cried a few times because of football injuries," Grange said. Guys with disabilities. I had hoped that the game would have done something for them, but it didn't. Pro football hasn't done anything for anyone other than recently, and that's mainly for the sake of itself. I never got a real stink about it, but the oldtimers were sad.

Pyle approached George Halas and Dutch Sternaman after the January tour but was turned down. He and Grange then proceeded to create their own team, the New York Yankees, and gain NFL access. Mara intervened after the Yankees violated his Giants' territorial rights although they had obtained a five-year contract to play at Yankee Stadium.

The nine-team American Football League was formed to face the NFL, Grange and Pyle. Wilson, who had been approached by Pyle about becoming his client, joined the Bears as a member of the Wildcats, while Grange's Bears teammates Mohardt and Joey Sternaman competed for the Chicago Bulls. The Yankees went 9–5 to finish second in the standings in 1926.

Wilson's Wildcats began the team on a ten-game barnstorming tour to Texas and California after the season. After being escorted to a nightlife destination by a local policeman, Grange and his colleagues were arrested in Dallas in late December for disrupting the peace and reportedly being intoxicated, the former of which the company denied; Grange related the incident to a hotel visit at 4 a.m. The players were asked by the hotel's chief to leave the lobby for the noise they were creating, including throwing teammate Pooley Hubert in an alley. They were eventually arrested and detained, but they were released after spending $10 to play a game in Beaumont that day.

The AFL retired after one season, and the Yankees were signed to the league. The Yankees were defeated 12–0 by the Bears in Chicago on October 17, 1927. With a minute remaining in the game, Grange sustained a serious knee injury when he was struck by center George Trafton while trying to get a pass from Eddie Tryon. When he landed, Grange's cleat became stuck in the field, causing him to twist his knee when Trafton collapsed on him. After water began to form, he was revealed to be a torn tendon and underwent a diathermy to fix it. Despite being injured for the remainder of his career, Grange's speed and running abilities were ultimately affected by the injury, but he continued to be active for the remainder of his career. "I was just another halfback" after it happened.

Grange returned against the Cardinals at quarterback four weeks after the Bears game to honor his four-week deal. Despite the fact that his injury exacerbated, the Yankees defeated 20–6 and he ultimately ended the season. He and the Yankees also participated in another barnstorming tour against West Coast teams led by Wilson and Benny Friedman this year. "I refused to believe that I could not return to my old form at twenty-four years old," Grange explained when starting to play in his autobiography. I was positive that I could return to form. However, those additional games only helped to exacerbate my asthma, and after the tour ended, it became clear that I had caused irreparable damage to the knee. For the first time since I was sick, almost four months ago, I was worried about the likelihood that I'd be able to participate as a footballer.

Pyle and Grange's employment ended in January 1928, but Grange decided not to renew due to his injury and dropped his interest in the Yankees. The Yankees went 4–8–1 without Grange before finally closing down for financial reasons. Before returning to the Bears in 1929, Grange missed the entire 1928 season.

In two consecutive championship games, Grange's later NFL seasons were the two highlights of the franchise's later NFL years. In the unofficial 1932 championship, Grange took the game-winning touchdown pass from Bronko Nagurski. The pass was allegedly unlawful, according to the onlookers. Grange made a touchdown saver on the 1933 championship game and Bears' championship.

He was a modest fellow who claimed that even the average plumber or electrician knew more about his trade than he did. He said he could not tell how he did what he did on the field of play, and that he simply followed his instincts.

Grange, who ended his playing career in 1934, became the Bears' backfield coach. Despite Halas' offer of him as the team's head coach, he declined because he "never had any intention to be a head coach in either the corporate or college ranks." He was in the position until 1937.

Acting career

Pyle realized that as the greatest football celebrity of his time, Grange would attract moviegoers as well as sports enthusiasts. In 1926, he made his cinematic debut in the silent film One Minute to Play; Grange referred to the production process as "the worst drudgery I've ever encountered." Due to California's summer heat and the story taking place in the Midwest during fall, the studio had a difficult time finding extras dressed in warmer clothing. Pyle marketed the movie's climactic final game between Red Wade and the more adamant Grange's character, as well as antagonist George Wilson, who had battled against Grange on the barnstorming tour, as a true exhibition game with fans dressed in fall costumes being allowed free admission. The film and Grange's performance received raves, with one Chicago Tribune film critic saying, "Now is your chance, because he plays it like every other thing in this picture." Agnes Taafee of the Minneapolis Star slammed several scenes for lack of realism, but she lauded Grange's performance. Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., the president of the United States, had asked Grange to consider moving from football to acting full-time, but he declined.

He appeared in A Racing Romeo (1927) the following year. Grange had been asked to perform his own racing stunts, but Cliff Bergere had been hired to take his place. The film ultimately failed at the box office, which Grange speculated was due to poorer marketing than with One Minute to Play. Lyle's father and uncle were in Chicago with Chicago film distributor Frank Zambreno on a national vaudeville tour titled C'Mon Red, despite missing the 1928 season to recover his knee injury.

In 1931, Grange appeared in The Galloping Ghost, a 12-part serial series. In what he described as "the most strenuous work I have ever done in my life," he did his own stunts for the serial, including vehicle chases and shooting scenes. Grange struggled to adapt to speaking roles as a result of the rise of sound film.

"I've always thought it was one of the most memorable and valuable chapters in my life," Grange wrote about his acting career in his autobiography: "I've always felt it represents one of the most memorable and worth-while chapters in my life." Despite the national recognition I had earned for my football playing when I first applied for jobs in 1926, I was a shy, poor, small-town boy. For me, confronting cameras, live audiences in the theaters, and mingling with all the enthusiastic people associated with show business did something for me. It gave me confidence and poise, as well as making me feel a little bit like a man of the world."

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