Born: June 13, 1903
Birthplace: Forksville, Pennsylvania, population 200
Siblings: Third child of Sadie and Lyle Grange
Family: Mother died when Grange was 5. Father then began a moving business and boys and Lyle lived in various places with relatives until they could afford a place of their own. Father later became a policeman.
Childhood: Grange and friends played sandlot football.
Sports: Lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track in high school.
77: The number Grange made famous.
Health: Diagnosed with a heart murmur and warned against playing football by his doctor.
Unconscious: Grange was knocked unconscious in a high school game his senior year and remained so for two days. He had difficulty speaking when he regained consciousness. It was his only injury playing football.
Did you know? Grange didn’t date in high school because he didn’t have the money or suitable clothing.
College: University of Illinois 1922-1925.
Professional: Played for the Chicago Bears.
Died: Jan. 28, 1991

TRIBUTE:
Grantland Rice’s tribute to Red Grange in a 1924 game against Michigan. This is where he was given his nickname.
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.

SHOW ME THE MONEY!
C.C. Pyle, a Champaign, Illinois theater owner and promoter, negotiated an elaborate deal with Chicago Bears owner and coach George Halas in which Grange was guaranteed a reported $3,000 per game and a varying percentage of the gate.

GRANGE ON THE OFFENSE
Not big at 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds, Grange’s philosophy was simple: “If you have the football and eleven guys are after you, if you’re smart, you’ll run.”

THE BEST EVER…
“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.”
Bob Zuppke
Illinois head coach

GRANGE ON POPULARITY:
“I’d have been more popular with the colleges if I had joined Capone’s mob in Chicago rather than the Bears.”

Grange had to be convinced he was good enough

By HickokSports.com

After winning 16 letters in four sports in high school, Grange entered the University of Illinois in 1922. He was one of more than 300 players who turned out for freshman football, and he decided he’d never make the team. But his fraternity brothers pressured him into going back to the practice field. He not only made the team, he scored two touchdowns in a scrimmage against the varsity, one of them on a 60-yard punt return.

Wearing the Number 77 that he soon made famous, Grange started as a sophomore and scored three touchdowns, on runs of 12-, 35-, and 60-yards, in his first game. Against the University of Chicago, he returned an interception 43 yards to set up the winning touchdown -- which he scored. He had a 92-yard interception return against Northwestern. He led the Western Conference (now the Big Ten) in scoring, he was named an All-American halfback.

Early in the 1924 season, Illinois faced a University of Michigan team that had been unbeaten in 20 consecutive games. Michigan athletic director and former coach "Hurry-Up" Yost assured the press, “Mr. Grange will be carefully watched every time he takes the ball. There will be 11 clean, hard Michigan tacklers headed for him.”

Grange responded by scoring touchdowns the first four times he touched the ball, in 12 minutes of the first quarter. He began with a 95-yard kickoff return, then had runs of 67-, 56-, and 45-yards. He was taken out until the third quarter, when he scored on a 12-yard run. Then he threw a 23-yard touchdown pass as Illinois won, 39-14.

Grange scored three touchdowns in a 21-21 tie with the University of Chicago. He was injured during the game with Minnesota and Illinois lost. He missed the final game of the season, a victory over Ohio State, but was still an All-American for the second year in a row.

Already known as the “Galloping Ghost” and the “Illinois Flash,” Grange captained the Illini in 1925. Illinois lost three of its first four games and Grange was moved to quarterback. Illinois won the final four games.

Grange's greatest performance came on a muddy field against Pennsylvania before 65,000 spectators. He gained 363 yards on 36 carries, scoring three touchdowns, in a 24-2 victory.

An All-American for the third time, Grange left college after his final game to tour with the Chicago Bears. He actually had a personal services contract for more than $100,000 with promoter Charles C. “Cash and Carry” Pyle, who in turn sold his services to the Bears.

The tour was not totally successful. Grange missed several games with injury and played only briefly in several others. However, he attracted 65,000 fans in New York, by far the largest crowd to have seen a professional game at that time. That record was broken in January, when 75,000 turned out in Los Angeles to watch Grange and the Bears.

Pyle also got Grange a role in a football movie, One Minute to Play, and Grange later did a vaudeville tour and two other movies. One of Pyle's ambitions was to get a New York franchise in the NFL, but he was turned down, so he started the American Football League, with Grange playing for the New York Yankees.

The AFL barely made it through the 1926 season, and the Yankees were then admitted into the NFL. Grange’s knee was badly injured in a game against the Bears, and he was never again the same player.

After sitting out the 1928 season, Grange joined the Bears in 1929 and played with them through 1934. No longer an outstanding runner, he was still a very good player, and a g defensive star. Grange was named to the first official All-Pro team chosen, in 1931, and was an All-Pro again in 1932.

When the Bears beat the Portsmouth Spartans for the 1932 NFL championship, Grange scored the only touchdown on a pass from Bronko Nagurski. And Grange saved the 1933 championship game against the New York Giants. The Bears were leading 23-21 in the closing seconds, when a Giant halfback broke loose and had a teammate trailing him, waiting for a lateral. Grange grabbed the runner’s arms to keep him from lateraling the ball and then threw him to the ground.

Grange missed the 1934 championship game with an injury. He played in a post-season exhibition game on January 27, 1935. He broke into the open on a 50-yard run, but was caught from behind by a lineman. He decided it was time to retire.