A streak of fire, a breath of flame
Eluding all who reach and clutch;
A gray ghost thrown into the game
That rival hands may never touch;
A rubber bounding, blasting soul
Whose destination is the goal — Red Grange of Illinois!
Grantland Rice
Permit me to go a little off topic today.
On this day in 1925, Red Grange played his last University of Illinois football game. By the next day, he was grabbed by the Chicago Bears and his legacy continued.
Looking through his bio, it’s quite amazing. Grange’s story is replete of athletic heroics and glory. The stuff of sportswriters’ dreams.
He was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Wheaton, Illinois after his mother died when he was only five. In high school, he earned 16 varsity letters in four sports (including baseball). In his junior year he scored 36 touchdown leading Wheaton HS to an undefeated season.
After graduating, he enrolled at the University of Illinois. In his first football game with them, he scored three touchdowns against Nebraska.
It was in 1924 when people around the nation started to notice Grange. Against a Michigan Wolverines team that hadn’t lost in two years, Grange scored five touchdowns including a 95 yard kickoff return on the very first play of the game.
It was that game that inspired Chicago sportswriter Warren Brown who nicknamed him “The Galloping Ghost”.
By the end of the 1925 he had built up a reputation such that the University of Illinois retired his #77.
The day after his last college football game in 1925, Grange made the decision to to sign with George Halas and the Chicago Bears. He played for the Bears until 1934 interrupted once by a player dispute which caused Grange to depart the NFL and form his own league, the American Football League. The AFL was short lived and Grange’s team, the New York Yankees, was absorbed into the AFL.
Grange led the Bears to two consecutive championships in 1932-33.
These days, the term legend is bounced around quite freely. In my opinion, it applies quite aptly to Red Grange.