The ‘Galloping Ghost’ Remembered

Posted Jan 20, 2010 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated Jan 20, 2010 at 08:42 PM

It’s appropriate there is a Red Grange Boulevard in Indian Lake Estates. After all, football’s famed “Galloping Ghost” lived in that eastern Polk County subdivision late in his life.

It’s a quiet, unassuming place, which suited Grange just fine. He never craved the spotlight, but his ability on the football field made it impossible to ignore him. But because Grange’s greatest moments took place at the University of Illinois and with the Chicago Bears in the 1920s, all we have as evidence are grainy, black-and-white photos and herky-jerky newsreels.

Until now.

Sports Illustrated staff writer and SI.com columnist Lars Anderson adds color, depth and texture to the legend of the Galloping Ghost in his latest book, “The First Star: Red Grange and the Barnstorming Tour That Launched the NFL” (Random House, $26).

Anderson takes the reader through Grange’s childhood and the series of events that turned a quiet boy into a running back who, in 2008, would be named the greatest college football player of all time by ESPN.

After a brilliant career at Illinois (including an electrifying effort against Michigan in 1924), Grange left college early and signed with the Chicago Bears. It was a move that appalled sports “purists,” who viewed professional football as a lowbrow activity played by unsavory characters.

Grange, along with his agent and marketing genius, C.C. “Cash and Carry” Pyle, embarked on a barnstorming tour with the Bears and Coach George Halas — 19 games in 66 days in a whirlwind nationwide tour against all-star squads and other pro teams.

The tour may not have saved (or launched) the National Football League, as Anderson infers in his book title, but it sure gave the fledgling league a much-needed boost. And while Grange was worn out by the end of the barnstorming tour, it was his drawing power that pulled in crowds and gave the NFL the credibility it so desperately needed.

Anderson ties it all together with well researched, tightly written prose and descriptions that put the reader practically into the huddle. It’s a great combination.

Anderson does not spend a great deal of time delving into Grange’s life after football, but he thoroughly covers a significant slice of history.

Grange may have been a great runner, but his best blocker might have been his wife, Margaret, affectionately known as Muggs.

True story. In the mid-1980s, I was assigned by Scripps-Howard News Service to do a story on Grange for that newspaper chain’s feature package for the upcoming football season.

Since at the time I lived 90 minutes away from Grange (in Port St. Lucie) , it seemed like a slam-dunk: drop in for a chat with one of the charter members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Oh, we’re not gonna have any of that,” Muggs said when I called to set up an interview.

Audible. How about a telephone chat?

“Yeah, but make it short. He’s watching a Braves game.”

Grange was pleasant enough, and I got my interview. But that sure was a close call.

Red Grange died in a Lake Wales hospital on Jan. 28, 1991, the day after Super Bowl XXV was held at Tampa Stadium. The Mara family, whose Giants had just edged Buffalo 20-19, benefited greatly from Grange’s barnstorming tour in November 1925. In fact, it probably saved the franchise.

Anderson explains why in a story that is both compelling and entertaining.