Red Grange and the Rise of Modern Football

Before the Super Bowl, before Monday Night Football, even before the NFL, there was Red Grange. Catapulted into the public eye in 1924 by scoring four touchdowns in twelve minutes for the University of Illinois, the "Galloping Ghost" went on to a trailblazing career as a professional player, star of Hollywood films, and broadcaster. He, Babe Ruth, and Jack Dempsey were among the nation's most heralded figures during the "golden age of sport" of the 1920s, and he was also on the cover of Sports Illustrated when that magazine did a special issue in 1991 on the greatest moments in sports.
John Carroll depicts the career of this soft-spoken pioneer who helped lift pro football about its reputation as "a dirty little business run by rogues and bargain-basement entrepreneurs." A reluctant celebrity and folk hero, Red Grange throughout his life symbolized older, more rural American values. He was an unpretentious self-made individual who made his mark in a society increasingly controlled by machines, vast corporations, and stifling bureaucracies. His story is an essential element in understanding football's central place in American culture.

John M. Carroll is Regents' Professor of History at Lamar University.