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Harold (Red) Grange, whose dramatic exploits as a football running back for the University of Illinois and the Chicago Bears more than 60 years ago made him an idol of his age and a legend to later generations.
With his many notable achievements on the football field -- some so spectacular they still read like fiction -- Red Grange fit easily into that group of superstars that helped elevate the 1920's into a golden age of sports in the United States. He outlived all the other larger-than-life heroes of that decade: Babe Ruth, Bill Tilden, Johnny Weissmuller, Jack Dempsey and Bobby Jones.
Mr. Grange became a charter member of the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1963, and was also a member of the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. An Afternoon in 1924
The Grange legend flowered one afternoon in 1924, when his Illinois team was facing undefeated Michigan. That day was also dedication day for Illinois Memorial Stadium, and 66,609 fans turned out for the game.
While many people were still finding their seats, Mr. Grange took the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. Then, on the Illini's first play from scrimmage, he broke through for a 67-yard touchdown. He followed that with touchdown runs of 54 yards and then 44 yards. He astounded everyone present, as well as the larger football world, by rushing for 265 yards and 4 touchdowns in the first 12 minutes of the game.
"I need a breather," he reportedly told his quarterback, before going off the field to rest for five minutes. Soon after, he returned and scored his fifth touchdown of the day, on a 13-yard run. For good measure, he tossed a 20-yard scoring pass in the fourth quarter as Illinois won, 39-14. In 41 minutes of play, he was responsible for 402 yards of offense, including 64 yards as a passer.
For this performance, and for his performances on other golden afternoons, Mr. Grange became known as the Galloping Ghost, in tribute to his elusive yet barreling running style. Damon Runyon once wrote of him: "He is three or four men rolled into one. He is Jack Dempsey, Babe Ruth, Al Jolson, Paavo Nurmi and Man o' War." The Legendary No. 77
Even while he was a student, Mr. Grange's jersey number, 77, took on almost mythic proportions. He was a three-time all-American, continually producing games that seemingly could not be topped.
In his collegiate debut, for example, he ran 35 yards for a touchdown against Nebraska in the first quarter, 65 yards for another score in the second and 12 yards for a third touchdown in the final period. In his first Big Ten game, against Iowa, he caught three passes on a drive that took Illinois to the 2-yard line. Then he scored and the Illini went on to beat the Hawkeyes for the first time in 22 games.
Mr. Grange's collegiate career mark of 2,071 yards rushing over three seasons was actually bettered several times by other Illini runners, but he accomplished that figure with only 388 carries -- an average of 5.3 yards a carry. The last of his many records at Illinois, 31 career touchdowns, was broken last year when Howard Griffith ended his Illini career with 33 touchdowns. Mr. Grange also threw six scoring passes.
Mr. Grange's collegiate exploits suddenly ended in November 1925, when he was persuaded to join the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day to begin a remarkable tour that helped lift pro football into the American consciousness. His abrupt shift also had a long-lasting effect on the relationship between colleges and the National Football League.
The Bears were owned and coached by George Halas, himself a former Illinois player. Coach Bob Zuppke of Illinois, angered by Mr. Halas's hiring Mr. Grange, contacted the Bear coach and told him that such actions could jeopardize the college game. Mr. Halas came to agree with Mr. Zuppke, and although Mr. Grange stayed on the Chicago team, Mr. Halas eventually persuaded the N.F.L. to adopt a draft of collegians and not take any of them before their class graduated. A Quick $100,000
Mr. Grange's debut professional tour started with 8 games in 12 days, and by the time it ended, in February 1926, he had earned $100,000. But more important than his earnings was the fact that he almost instantly gave the N.F.L. the credibility it had lacked in its first five years.
Mr. Grange's first tour with the Bears, orchestrated by a former theatrical magician named C. C. (Cash and Carry) Pyle, attracted big crowds, like the 66,000 fans in the Polo Grounds for a meeting with the Giants.
At one point during the tour, Babe Ruth invited himself up to Mr. Grange's hotel room to meet the celebrated young football player. "Kid," Mr. Ruth reportedly told him, "don't believe anything they write about you, and don't pick up too many dinner checks."
Mr. Grange followed that first pro season with two seasons with the New York Yankees football team, and then returned to the Bears to play from 1929-34. After a brief career as an assistant coach, he left the game to try a variety of pursuits, including acting. He returned to football as a radio and television analyst and announcer, broadcasting many college games and 312 Bear games from 1947-61.
Mr. Grange then retired to Indian Lake, Fla., where he owned an orange grove and an insurance agency and was involved in the real-estate business. Raised in Wheaton, Ill.
Harold Grange was born on June 13, 1903, in Forksville, Pa., but he was raised in Wheaton, Ill. He was a perfect football figure for the age of hyperbole in American sports. It was one of that era's primary chroniclers, Grantland Rice, who labeled him the Galloping Ghost. The nickname was so widely known that Mr. Grange even made a series of cliffhanger movie serials called "The Galloping Ghost."
Yet when he was asked once for his fondest college football memory, Mr. Grange did not cite his five-touchdown performance against Michigan or his opening-game heroics. Instead, it was a game at Iowa won when Earl Britton, his prime blocker on runs, kicked a 55-yard field goal.
"I held the ball for him," Mr. Grange explained.