Red Grange: The Life and Legacy of the NFL&#039;s First Superstar

Chris Willis

doi:10.5771/9781538101957

Summary

In celebration of the National Football League’s 100th season, noted football historian Chris Willis brings to life the story of Red Grange, the nation’s first NFL star, in this definitive biography.

Harold “Red” Grange became a national sensation as a junior halfback at the University of Illinois in the 1920s. He quickly joined other great athletes of the Roaring Twenties such as Bobby Jones, Jack Dempsey, and Babe Ruth in enthralling audiences on the radio and in newspapers on a daily basis. A year later the "Galloping Ghost" stunned the country by dropping out of school after his last collegiate game and going pro with the six year old NFL, signing with the Chicago Bears.

In Red Grange: The Life and Legacy of the NFL’s First Superstar, Chris Willis tells the remarkable story of a humble football player who rose to fame in the 1920s and became an icon. With unlimited access and complete cooperation of the Grange family, Willis offers new insight into Grange’s rags-to-riches story, including details about his tomboy mother who died when Grange was six years old and never-before-published information on Grange’s barnstorming tour with the Chicago Bears that instantly gave credibility to the fledgling NFL.

With over fifty original interviews, personal letters to and from Grange, and more than forty photos, this definitive biography reveals in intimate detail the life of a sports pioneer. Whether as a player, coach, broadcaster, pitchman, Hall of Famer, ambassador, or icon, Red Grange was, and still is, the face of the early NFL and one of the greatest athletes of all-time.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2019
Copyright Year: 2019
ISBN-Print: 978-1-5381-0194-0
ISBN-Online: 978-1-5381-0195-7
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 466
Product Type: Monograph

1. CONTENTS No access
2. PREFACE No access
3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS No access
4. INTRODUCTION No access
1. Ch01. FORKSVILLE No access
2. Ch02. LOSING MOM No access
3. Ch03. WHEATON No access
4. Ch04. LOVE OF SPORTS No access
5. Ch05.0 THE WHEATON ICEMAN No access
6. Ch06. HIGH SCHOOL GLORY No access
1. Ch07. BOB ZUPPKE No access
2. Ch08. FRESHMAN TO ALL-AMERICAN No access
3. Ch09. 12 MINUTES TO IMMORTALITY No access
4. Ch10. C. C. PYLE No access
5. Ch11. EAST COAST INVASION No access
6. Ch12. RUMORS SWIRL AND RED’S LAST GAME AT ILLINOIS No access
1. Ch13. GEORGE HALAS AND DUTCH STERNAMAN No access
2. Ch14. SIGNING WITH THE CHICAGO BEARS AND FIRST PRO GAME No access
3. Ch15. EASTERN BARNSTORMING TOUR (NOVEMBER 22, 1925–DECEMBER 20, 1925) No access
4. Ch16. SOUTHERN BARNSTORMING TOUR (DECEMBER 21, 1925–JANUARY 10, 1926) No access
5. WESTERNBARNSTORMING TOUR(JANUARY 11, 1926–FEBRUARY 4, 1926) No access
6. Photospread No access
7. Ch18. IMPACT OF THE BARNSTORMING TOUR No access
1. Ch19. WAR WITH THE NFL No access
2. Ch20. ONE MINUTE TO PLAY No access
3. Ch21. 1926 PRO FOOTBALL SEASON No access
4. Ch22. BACK TO HOLLYWOOD No access
1. Ch23. 1927 NEW YORK YANKEES No access
2. Ch24.OUT OF FOOTBALL No access
3. Ch25. HALAS BRINGS BACK THE GHOST No access
4. Ch26. INDOOR MADNESS No access
5. Ch27. THE NFL GROWS UP No access
6. Ch28. THE GALLOPING GHOST WALKS AWAY No access
1. Ch29. COACHING AND BROADCASTING No access
2. Ch30. MARGARET “MUGGS” GRANGE No access
3. Ch31. TELEVISION STAR No access
1. Ch32. PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME No access
2. Ch33. 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF IMMORTALITY No access
3. Ch34. SUPER BOWL COIN TOSS No access
4. Ch35. WHEATON HOMECOMING No access
5. Ch36. MEETING THE FIGHTING ILLINI No access
6. Ch37. GOODBYE TO THE GALLOPING GHOST No access
7. Ch38. THE LEGACY OF RED GRANGE No access
NOTES No access Pages 419 - 452
BIBLIOGRAPHY No access Pages 453 - 454
INDEX No access Pages 455 - 464
ABOUT THE AUTHOR No access Pages 465 - 466