Ghost Stories
The Big Ten’s first starEvery college football program can look back to its litany of great players – even this one – but there are a few players who served as the virtual foundation of a program’s destiny. Ohio State has Chic Harley, Army has Doc Blanchard and USC has Frank Gifford.
Illinois has Red Grange. Red Grange put Illinois and what became the Big Ten Conference on the map, and then did the same for the pros.
Red Grange was born in Pennsylvania but attended high school in Wheaton, Illinois, where his father became a police chief. Grange earned 16 varsity letters by playing football, basketball baseball and running track. To earn extra money for his family, he took a job as an ice-carrier (back in the days when ice was hauled to your house by truck) and earned the local nickname “Ice Man” (and you thought he had it first).
Putting the Midwest on the Map
Grange came to Illinois determined to run track and perhaps play basketball, but was persuaded by friends and connections back home to try out for football. Grange scored three touchdowns in his first game, a whipping of Nebraska. Illinois rode Grange to an undefeated season and a 1923 national title. In the days when college football fans tended to pay attention to teams on both coasts, Red Grange made Midwest football a factor.
In 1924, Illinois hosted heavily-favored Michigan for the dedication of Memorial Stadium. Grange returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, then scored three additional touchdown runs of 56, 44 and 67 yards in the game’s first twelve minutes; Michigan had not given up more than four touchdowns in 1922 or 1923 combined. A winded Grange sat out the second quarter, then ran for a fifth touchdown and passed for a sixth. Michigan’s 20-game winning streak was over, and Red Grange vaulted to national prominence. He played offense, defense and special teams during the 1924 season, showing elusiveness and a burst in the open field that defied description. Chicago sportswriter Warren Brown dubbed Grange “The Galloping Ghost.”
Grange’s career numbers don’t seem overly impressive today – a 5.3 yards-per-carry average and 31 touchdowns scored. But he was a magnificent all-around player, and his exploits were wired across the country – he even appeared on the cover of an October issue of Time Magazine. And – yes – he beat Ohio State three straight times and twice in Columbus. The Buckeyes did a good job of containing Grange, though, and lost the three games by scores of 9-0, 7-0 and 14-9. Illinois coach Bob Zuppke said “I will never have another Grange, but neither will anyone else. They can argue all they like about the greatest football player who ever lived, but I was satisfied I had him when I had Red Grange.”
On to the Pros
George Halas signed Grange to a Bears contract the day after he played Ohio State in the season finale, then sent him on a 67-day barnstorming tour, from which Grange would get $3000 and a cut of the gate. Red’s decision to go pro was enormously unpopular with college administrators. “I’d have been more popular with the colleges if I had joined Capone’s mob in Chicago rather than the Bears,” Grange said.
Grange was just as smooth off the fieldIn an era when most professional football players earned about $85-$100 per game, Grange finished the tour with a cool $100,000 in his pocket. Though television would help make professional football the juggernaut it is today, Grange’s presence on the Bears legitimized the “mercenary” NFL at a time when college football was far more popular with the public. He appeared before a crowd of 65,000 in New York, and the proceeds from that game saved the Giants franchise from bankruptcy.
In 1927, the 5’11”, 175-pounder suffered a serious knee injury that permanently limited the speed and “hip-wiggle” that made him such a dangerous player. Grange was no longer the greatest player that ever lived; now he was just an exceptional one. He missed the 1928 season as a result of the knee injury, and finished his career in 1934. In the unofficial 1932 championship game, it was Grange who caught the winning touchdown pass from Bronco Nagurski; in 1933, his tackle at the goal line preserved another title for the Bears. Chicago won two championships thanks to the heroics of a man who was a shadow of his former self.
Life After Football
Grange was Frank Gifford before there was a Frank Gifford. He was the first professional football player to be widely showered with lucrative endorsement deals, and even starred in two movies and a 12-part cinematic serial – “The Galloping Ghost.” Grange had a career in speaking and radio, and lived quietly with his wife of fifty years. The Galloping Ghost developed Parkinson’s in the last year of his life, and died in 1991.
Legacy
It’s easy to make the argument that it was Red Grange who put Midwestern football on the map. A few programs had established themselves - Michigan, Ohio State and Nebraska, for example – but it was Grange who became the face of Midwestern football. He was not just a great player – he was a media star.
ESPN named Grange one of the top 25 college players of all time, and he was the only unanimous choice of the Football Writers Association of America in 1969 when it named its all-century team. Let’s hope Ohio State kicks the crap out of Illinois this weekend - while remembering how instrumental Red Grange was in making Big Ten football what it is today. Remember Red Grange when you watch the NFL on Sunday. Grange laid the bedrock for modern football.
Man, if only Red were around to teach me how to hold onto the football man. My fumbles are out of hound this year!
Good article man. Lets get a few up for Buckeye Legends from the past….
BuckeyeSki:
Don’t worry - there’s one in the launcher. Glad you liked it.
Great article Joe, I have really like these history lessons.
Joe-
Great job, kept me in word for word bro..! Can’t wait to see the one in the “Launcher”..!
agreed, kept me going through class. Can’t wait for the next one!
great article - me gusta mucho. his open field burst was out of hound.
Amazing that a 5′11″, 175 pound cat could do so much damage. That was a long, longgg time ago.
Matt, how about Archie being 5′9 and a buck 88? Now that is amazing!
Every time I hear “Red Grange” I think of a ‘Married with Children’ episode. They were honoring Al Bundy for his 4 TD performance in one game for Polk High, but they were calling him “Red Grange” instead. Classic.
Damn you frosty, I wanted to get the Al Bundy reference in first. The only player to score 4 touchdowns in a single game……for Polk High.
Why did Ed O’Neill always play a charachter that had an acheivement filled football past?! LOL
Ex: Married with Children and Little Giants
LOL @ the Al Bundy Polk High reference. Classic.
Great read, Joe. I’m liking the historical pieces.
nice work,Joseph…appreciate the history lesson!
Greg Oden is back playing tonight. 8pm on ESPN.
If I remember correctly, Grange and Harley were the first team tailbacks on that all-century team, ahead of Jim Thorpe.
Teddy Ginn of his day. Hats off!!
Nice article.
I find it interesting that they dedicated Memorial Stadium in 1924. And have made no improvements whatsoever since.
Looks like they’ll be unveiling some new bling on that stadium soon:
http://tinyurl.com/6a2w3u
Not bad….
For all of you who love buckeye history as much is I do The HBO special Ohio State-Michigan the Rivalry is On HBO on demand for those of us who are lucky enough to have it…
Go Bucks,
can someone please tivo that or whatever the shit u techno-kids do and then post it on megavideo or youtube or something, i been wantin to see that for a year now
Nice article. OK, now let’s hope the Bucks beat the stuffing out of the Illini this week.
“Why did Ed O’Neill always play a charachter that had an acheivement filled football past?! LOL
Ex: Married with Children and Little Giants”
What about Keeanu Reeves playing Johnny Utah and Shane “footsteps” Falco?
I always wondered why he played a former Buckeye QB twice…
“I always wondered why he played a former Buckeye QB twice…”
He’s left-handed. He was pretending he was Bellasari.
Bellasari = Bellisari.
Correction: Bellisorry.
AKA: B.A.C.=0.22
really nice article. makes me think of the movie Leatherheads which seemed to be kind of based on Red Grange and the NFL.
thanks very much!
We all remember Ed for his Al Bundy days.
But remember he played pro football for the Steelers. And if you are lucky enough to catch an old Miami Vice episode, he is a twisted mean mofo.
I thought leatherheads was based off of the Duluth Eskimos (the Ironmen of the North). I could be wrong, as i’ve never seen the movie. If it is about them, it’s Ernie Nevers, not Red Grange.
Swayze: “DUDE! Chill out! Don’t you know who that is? Thats Johnny Utah man! All Big-Ten QB from Ohio State right?!”
Keanu: “Woooooahh! Yeah, that was before I blew out my knee man!”
Surferclan member: “Woah, dude, can I put your penis, like, in and around my mouth?”
Gary Busey: “I’ve got first dibbs on that beach-bum”
LMAO
It should be THE RED GRANGE trophy - NOT - the Heisman trophy. Grange was the Babe Ruth of college football. And “The Galloping Ghost” is the greatest nickname yet bestowed upon any college football player. Red Grange’s single-handed destruction of Michigan in 1924, was one of the great days in American history. Hell, I was born a half century AFTER that damn game and I’m not the only one I know who accepts Grange’s greatness, as fact. Just look at that picture of him in his uniform. THAT is a tough guy.
Yes, Grange took it to Michigan that year but in 1925, Michigan coach Fielding Yost unretired specifically to stop Grange. They returned to Illinois that year and stopped the bastard cold.