WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.259 Welcome to the Deep Dive. I am so glad you're 00:00:03.259 --> 00:00:05.580 joining us today because we have a story that 00:00:05.580 --> 00:00:08.779 is going to completely change how you view modern 00:00:08.779 --> 00:00:11.460 sports. Oh, absolutely. Our mission today is 00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:16.519 simple, but undeniably ambitious. We are unpacking 00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:19.800 the life. the legend, and the sheer cultural 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:23.899 force of a man who practically single -handedly 00:00:23.899 --> 00:00:26.879 dragged professional football out of the shadows 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:29.420 and into the national spotlight. We are, of course, 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.079 talking about Harold Edward Redgrange. We're 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:34.520 drawing from an incredibly comprehensive Wikipedia 00:00:34.520 --> 00:00:37.600 article on his life today. And, I mean, it is 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:40.219 packed with details that honestly read like a 00:00:40.219 --> 00:00:42.539 Hollywood script. They really do. And to fully 00:00:42.539 --> 00:00:44.520 appreciate this, you have to understand the landscape 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:47.119 of the 1920s. Right. Back then, college... football 00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:49.500 was king. It was viewed as pure, it was prestigious, 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:51.600 and it packed tens of thousands of people into 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:54.200 grand stadiums. Professional football, on the 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:56.060 other hand, was considered a gritty, slightly 00:00:56.060 --> 00:00:58.880 scandalous side hustle. Played on dirt fields 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:00.759 by guys just trying to make a few extra bucks 00:01:00.759 --> 00:01:03.560 on a Sunday. Exactly. What's fascinating here 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:07.439 is how one 22 -year -old athlete completely inverted 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:10.260 that power dynamic and created the blueprint 00:01:10.260 --> 00:01:13.620 for the modern superstar athlete. He took a fringe 00:01:13.620 --> 00:01:17.909 sport And I want you to look at this not just 00:01:17.909 --> 00:01:20.670 as a sports story, but as a masterclass in personal 00:01:20.670 --> 00:01:24.370 branding, sheer physical dominance, and the chaotic 00:01:24.370 --> 00:01:27.799 early days of sports marketing. Long before athletes 00:01:27.799 --> 00:01:30.340 had $100 million endorsement deals or social 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:34.099 media empires, Red Grange was writing the playbook. 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:36.239 He really was the pioneer. Okay, let's unpack 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:37.959 this from the very beginning. Chronologically, 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:40.739 because his origins really explain the physical 00:01:40.739 --> 00:01:43.879 powerhouse he became, Grange was born in 1903 00:01:43.879 --> 00:01:46.879 in a Pennsylvania lumber camp. Which is a remarkably 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:50.019 tough start. Yeah, it really is. His mother passes 00:01:50.019 --> 00:01:52.459 away when he's only five years old. And the family 00:01:52.459 --> 00:01:54.180 eventually moves to Wheaton, Illinois, where 00:01:54.180 --> 00:01:56.129 his dad becomes the chief of police. And it's 00:01:56.129 --> 00:01:58.349 in Wheaton where we see the first flashes of 00:01:58.349 --> 00:02:01.290 this generational athletic ability. In high school, 00:02:01.430 --> 00:02:03.930 he wasn't just good at football. He earned 16 00:02:03.930 --> 00:02:09.110 varsity letters. 16. Across four sports, football, 00:02:09.389 --> 00:02:13.000 baseball, basketball, and track. During his high 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.360 school football career, he scored an astonishing 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:19.379 75 touchdowns. That is just unreal. But it wasn't 00:02:19.379 --> 00:02:21.979 without its risks. There's this terrifying detail 00:02:21.979 --> 00:02:24.300 in the source material about a game against Scott 00:02:24.300 --> 00:02:27.439 High School in Toledo. Grange took a hit that 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:29.639 knocked him completely unconscious. And we're 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:31.259 not talking about being dazed for a few minutes. 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:33.439 No, he was unconscious for two straight days. 00:02:33.500 --> 00:02:35.280 And when he finally woke up, he actually had 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.000 difficulty speaking. That is just terrifying. 00:02:38.709 --> 00:02:40.969 Especially considering the total lack of medical 00:02:40.969 --> 00:02:43.770 protocols back then, a two -day coma from a high 00:02:43.770 --> 00:02:46.469 school football game would end almost anyone's 00:02:46.469 --> 00:02:48.669 athletic ambitions today. You'd think so, yeah. 00:02:48.930 --> 00:02:51.330 But he recovers, and he continues to build this 00:02:51.330 --> 00:02:54.370 legendary physique in a very blue -collar way. 00:02:55.009 --> 00:02:57.169 To help his family out, he gets a part -time 00:02:57.169 --> 00:03:01.639 job lugging blocks of ice for... $37 .50 a week. 00:03:01.780 --> 00:03:04.180 Which wasn't just a job. It was basically the 00:03:04.180 --> 00:03:07.039 ultimate core strength training. Exactly. It 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:09.139 earned him his first real nickname, the Wheaton 00:03:09.139 --> 00:03:12.180 Iceman. And you combine that raw ice lugging 00:03:12.180 --> 00:03:14.960 power with speed that is almost hard to comprehend. 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:19.639 He was running the 100 -yard dash in 9 .8 seconds 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:23.219 in the early 1920s. Running on cinder tracks 00:03:23.219 --> 00:03:25.919 with heavy leather cleats. That was just a fraction 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:27.680 of a second off the world record. That combination 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:30.479 of raw power and Olympic -level speed was just 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:33.080 unheard of on a football field. So he graduates 00:03:33.080 --> 00:03:35.000 high school and enrolls at the University of 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.319 Illinois, initially planning to just stick to 00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:39.780 basketball and track. But then Bob Zipke steps 00:03:39.780 --> 00:03:42.240 in. Right. The legendary football coach Bob Zipke 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:44.159 gets a hold of him, and the trajectory of his 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:47.020 life shifts. Grange models, clothes at a local 00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:49.419 store, he boxes as an amateur, and he absolutely 00:03:49.419 --> 00:03:51.930 dominates on the gridiron. And the moment that 00:03:51.930 --> 00:03:54.069 elevated him from a great player to an American 00:03:54.069 --> 00:03:57.650 myth happened in October 1924, right? In a game 00:03:57.650 --> 00:04:00.289 against the heavily favored Michigan Wolverines. 00:04:00.389 --> 00:04:02.870 Yes. Michigan was the undisputed powerhouse. 00:04:02.990 --> 00:04:04.909 They had won a national title the previous year. 00:04:05.050 --> 00:04:07.689 This game was the grand opening of the new Memorial 00:04:07.689 --> 00:04:10.229 Stadium at Illinois, packed to the brim. Set 00:04:10.229 --> 00:04:12.550 the scene for us. What does he actually do? So 00:04:12.550 --> 00:04:15.069 Grange receives the opening kickoff and returns 00:04:15.069 --> 00:04:18.209 it 95 yards for a touchdown. And Krupp. But he 00:04:18.209 --> 00:04:22.199 isn't done. Over the next... 12 minutes just 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:25.459 12 minutes of game time he scores three more 00:04:25.459 --> 00:04:30.439 touchdowns on runs of 67 56 and 44 yards wait 00:04:30.439 --> 00:04:33.540 four touchdowns in 12 minutes four touchdowns 00:04:33.540 --> 00:04:35.740 hundreds of yards before some fans had even found 00:04:35.740 --> 00:04:38.339 their seats i cannot even fathom the energy in 00:04:38.339 --> 00:04:41.560 that stadium 12 minutes to completely dismantle 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:44.579 a national champion defense how did the sports 00:04:44.579 --> 00:04:47.100 world even react to something like that The cultural 00:04:47.100 --> 00:04:49.139 reaction was immediate. To give you a sense of 00:04:49.139 --> 00:04:51.279 the dynamic, after the game, Michigan's coach 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:53.860 Fielding Yost tried to downplay it. He grumbled, 00:04:54.040 --> 00:04:57.439 all Grange can do is run. Oh, sour grapes. Very 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:00.439 much so. And Grange's coach, Bob Zupke, fired 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:03.420 back with a legendary retort. He compared Grange 00:05:03.420 --> 00:05:05.360 to one of the most famous opera singers of the 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:08.459 era, saying, and all Gally Kersey can do is sing. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:10.959 That is brilliant. It's a perfect way of saying, 00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:13.160 yeah, he only does one thing, but he does it 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:15.759 better than anyone else on the planet. Exactly. 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:17.819 And the sports writers leaned right into that 00:05:17.819 --> 00:05:20.680 mythology. You have to remember, this is the 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:23.240 golden age of sports journalism, where writers 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:26.660 used incredibly flowery, poetic language. Grantland 00:05:26.660 --> 00:05:28.899 Rice, who was basically the definitive voice 00:05:28.899 --> 00:05:31.660 of sports at the time, wrote a poem describing 00:05:31.660 --> 00:05:35.079 Grange as a gray ghost thrown into the game that 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:38.050 rival hands may never touch. And that poem is 00:05:38.050 --> 00:05:40.990 what led Chicago sports writer Warren Brown to 00:05:40.990 --> 00:05:43.949 officially dub him the Galloping Ghost. Precisely. 00:05:43.949 --> 00:05:46.689 And Damon Runyon, another legendary columnist, 00:05:46.709 --> 00:05:48.670 wrote a recap where he said Grange was basically 00:05:48.670 --> 00:05:50.889 three or four men and a horse rolled into one. 00:05:51.029 --> 00:05:53.629 He compared him to a blend of Jack Dempsey, Babe 00:05:53.629 --> 00:05:56.959 Ruth, Al Jolson and Manowar. When you are being 00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:59.079 compared to the greatest boxer, the greatest 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:00.779 baseball player, the greatest entertainer, and 00:06:00.779 --> 00:06:02.639 the greatest racehorse of a generation all at 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:06.040 once, you have transcended sports. You are a 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:08.660 true cultural phenomenon. Without a doubt. So 00:06:08.660 --> 00:06:11.160 he's undeniably the most famous man in sports. 00:06:11.420 --> 00:06:13.360 But he's an amateur college kid playing in an 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:16.160 era long before athletic scholarships or endorsement 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:18.240 deals. Yeah. How does he actually turn that fame 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:20.860 into a paycheck in the 1920s? That is where a 00:06:20.860 --> 00:06:23.850 man named C .C. Pyle enters the picture. Pyle 00:06:23.850 --> 00:06:26.029 was a movie theater owner in Champaign, Illinois. 00:06:26.569 --> 00:06:29.629 He was a showman, and he saw incredible financial 00:06:29.629 --> 00:06:32.990 potential. The ultimate promoter. Exactly. Pyle 00:06:32.990 --> 00:06:34.810 approaches Grange with a pitch that would alter 00:06:34.810 --> 00:06:37.569 the course of sports history. He asks him, how 00:06:37.569 --> 00:06:40.350 would you like to make $100 ,000, maybe even 00:06:40.350 --> 00:06:43.829 a million? In the 20s? Yeah. That is a staggering 00:06:43.829 --> 00:06:46.490 amount of wealth. Life -changing money. They 00:06:46.490 --> 00:06:49.759 agreed to a 60 -40 split. with Pyle taking the 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:52.259 40%, but paying all expenses out of his end. 00:06:52.620 --> 00:06:54.939 Pyle then goes to the owners of the Chicago Bears, 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:57.759 George Hallis and Edward Sternemann, and negotiates 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:00.319 a deal where Grange and Pyle get 50 % of the 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:03.680 gate receipts for every single game Grange plays 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:05.579 in. Here's where it gets really interesting, 00:07:05.699 --> 00:07:08.300 because going pro wasn't just a career choice 00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:11.720 back then. It was a deeply controversial cultural 00:07:11.720 --> 00:07:15.199 taboo. Oh, heavily taboo. The amateur ideal was 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:18.170 considered sacred. College coaches like Amos 00:07:18.170 --> 00:07:21.110 Alonzo -Stagg and Michigan's Fielding Yost absolutely 00:07:21.110 --> 00:07:23.850 despised the move. They thought professional 00:07:23.850 --> 00:07:26.389 football was a dirty, commercialized corruption 00:07:26.389 --> 00:07:30.410 of this pure college game. It caused a huge rift, 00:07:30.430 --> 00:07:33.839 didn't it? A profound rift. There is this vivid, 00:07:33.939 --> 00:07:36.720 almost cinematic anecdote about Grange's final 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:39.180 college game against Ohio State that perfectly 00:07:39.180 --> 00:07:42.240 captures this tension. It's known as the Zupke 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:45.600 taxi incident. I love this story. So Grange has 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:48.220 played his final college game and he and Coach 00:07:48.220 --> 00:07:50.120 Zupke are sharing a taxi back to their hotel 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:53.720 in Chicago. Zupke knows Grange is about to sign 00:07:53.720 --> 00:07:56.459 this pro contract and he is desperate to stop 00:07:56.459 --> 00:07:58.839 him. Right. He keeps ordering the taxi driver 00:07:58.839 --> 00:08:01.050 to take the long way driving. all over the dark 00:08:01.050 --> 00:08:03.550 city streets just to buy more time to talk Grange 00:08:03.550 --> 00:08:06.189 out of it. He's pleading with him to preserve 00:08:06.189 --> 00:08:09.069 his amateur purity. And Grange is a practical 00:08:09.069 --> 00:08:11.889 blue -collar guy who used to lug ice. He shoots 00:08:11.889 --> 00:08:14.509 back at his coach, asking a very simple, logical 00:08:14.509 --> 00:08:16.769 question. If you get paid for coaching football, 00:08:17.069 --> 00:08:19.029 why shouldn't I get paid for playing it? It's 00:08:19.029 --> 00:08:21.829 such a modern perspective in an era that completely 00:08:21.829 --> 00:08:24.629 rejected it. Yeah, Zucchi was so insulted he 00:08:24.629 --> 00:08:26.709 basically stopped talking to him and they had 00:08:26.709 --> 00:08:28.509 a very public falling out at the team banquet. 00:08:28.709 --> 00:08:31.189 The backlash in the press was intense too. Herbert 00:08:31.189 --> 00:08:33.450 Reid wrote an article in the Outlook where he 00:08:33.450 --> 00:08:36.149 actually used Grange's name as a verb. He talked 00:08:36.149 --> 00:08:38.870 about degranging a game. Meaning what exactly? 00:08:39.230 --> 00:08:41.789 It meant to exploit a game for financial gain. 00:08:42.460 --> 00:08:44.919 Grange was challenging the entire moral framework 00:08:44.919 --> 00:08:47.460 of amateur athletics. He was making the case 00:08:47.460 --> 00:08:50.179 that his talent had immense financial value and 00:08:50.179 --> 00:08:52.379 he had every right to capitalize on it. Purity 00:08:52.379 --> 00:08:54.679 be damned. So let's look at the actual pro debut 00:08:54.679 --> 00:08:57.840 because the turnaround is a whirlwind. It's Thanksgiving 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:01.419 Day 1925. Grange debuts for the Chicago Bears 00:09:01.419 --> 00:09:04.059 against the Chicago Cardinals. And 40 ,000 people 00:09:04.059 --> 00:09:06.480 show up. Which is huge. Yeah. But our sources 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:08.440 mention he only had three days to learn the Bears 00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:10.940 T formation because he played a single wing offense 00:09:10.940 --> 00:09:13.679 in college. What exactly does that mean for him 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:16.000 as a player? It's a drastic shift in football 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:19.379 philosophy. In college, Grange played in the 00:09:19.379 --> 00:09:21.899 single wing. That system was all about brute 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:25.019 force and direct action. The ball is often snapped 00:09:25.019 --> 00:09:27.779 directly to the star runner, and a phalanx of 00:09:27.779 --> 00:09:31.159 blockers just tries to plow a path forward. So 00:09:31.159 --> 00:09:33.340 straightforward. Get the ball and run. Right. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:37.440 The Bears, however, ran the T formation. This 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:39.539 required a quarterback standing under center, 00:09:39.659 --> 00:09:42.139 taking the snap and executing sleight of hand 00:09:42.139 --> 00:09:45.620 handoffs, misdirection and complex backfield 00:09:45.620 --> 00:09:48.039 timing. That's a lot of mental gymnastics. Huge 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:50.840 mental gymnastics. Grange had to learn an entirely 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:53.820 new vocabulary of footwork and offensive timing 00:09:53.820 --> 00:09:57.600 in 72 hours before facing grown men who hit harder 00:09:57.600 --> 00:09:59.840 than anyone had ever played against. Learning 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:02.120 an entirely new offensive scheme in three days 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:04.840 is absurd. But that game was just the beginning. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:06.960 From what I'm reading, the schedule they set 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:10.000 up for him borders on inhumane. It was essentially 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:12.940 a grueling barnstorming tour designed to squeeze 00:10:12.940 --> 00:10:15.279 every possible dime out of Grange's popularity 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:18.460 before the hype faded. Pyle and the Bears booked 00:10:18.460 --> 00:10:21.519 a traveling circus. In December of 1925 alone, 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:23.919 they played eight games in just 12 days. They 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:27.340 were traveling by train, playing on frozen dirt 00:10:27.340 --> 00:10:30.500 fields, with virtually no time for physical recovery. 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:34.659 Modern NFL players need a full week of ice baths 00:10:34.659 --> 00:10:37.240 and physical therapy to recover from one game. 00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:40.899 How is his body not just completely disintegrating? 00:10:40.940 --> 00:10:43.059 Well, it was disintegrating. He had a massive 00:10:43.059 --> 00:10:46.539 target on his back. Every defensive player wanted 00:10:46.539 --> 00:10:48.740 to be the guy who tackled the famous galloping 00:10:48.740 --> 00:10:52.940 ghost. The physical reality was. Yeah, I read 00:10:52.940 --> 00:10:54.559 about the Providence game. There's a poignant 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:56.399 moment during that game against the Providence 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:59.879 steamroller where Grange's arm was so swollen 00:10:59.879 --> 00:11:03.159 and he was in so much pain that he simply let 00:11:03.159 --> 00:11:05.620 a punt sail over his head because he couldn't 00:11:05.620 --> 00:11:07.519 physically bear to catch it and take a hit. And 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:09.500 the crowd booed him. They actually booed him. 00:11:09.539 --> 00:11:12.179 That was a harsh lesson. He realized that the 00:11:12.179 --> 00:11:13.779 professional audience is paying for a product, 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:15.940 and if you don't deliver, they turn on you instantly. 00:11:16.139 --> 00:11:18.679 That has to be devastating. But the tour was 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:21.950 succeeding financially, right? I see a note here 00:11:21.950 --> 00:11:24.409 about a critical game in New York. Financially, 00:11:24.470 --> 00:11:27.690 it was a triumph. The most vital stop on that 00:11:27.690 --> 00:11:30.470 tour was playing the New York Giants at the Polo 00:11:30.470 --> 00:11:35.409 Grounds. Somewhere between 65 and 73 ,000 fans 00:11:35.409 --> 00:11:39.509 packed the stadium. Wow. That single game and 00:11:39.509 --> 00:11:41.909 the massive influx of cash from the ticket sales 00:11:41.909 --> 00:11:44.950 literally saved the Giants franchise from going 00:11:44.950 --> 00:11:48.240 into crippling debt. Red Grange's sheer star 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:50.679 power financially stabilized what would become 00:11:50.679 --> 00:11:53.679 a foundational NFL team. Incredible. And didn't 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:55.379 they even go down to Washington, D .C.? They 00:11:55.379 --> 00:11:57.779 did. The team went to the White House to meet 00:11:57.779 --> 00:12:00.169 President Calvin Coolidge. How did the president 00:12:00.169 --> 00:12:03.549 react to meeting this cultural icon? It's a fantastic 00:12:03.549 --> 00:12:06.250 historical moment. Coolidge is introduced to 00:12:06.250 --> 00:12:08.830 the team, shakes Grange's hand and says, glad 00:12:08.830 --> 00:12:10.830 to meet you. I always did like animal acts. You 00:12:10.830 --> 00:12:13.210 are kidding. No. The president of the United 00:12:13.210 --> 00:12:15.210 States genuinely thought he was meeting a group 00:12:15.210 --> 00:12:17.769 of people who performed with actual bears. It 00:12:17.769 --> 00:12:20.210 highlights just how far off the radar professional 00:12:20.210 --> 00:12:22.830 football was to the general public before Grange 00:12:22.830 --> 00:12:25.570 came along. That is hilarious. But back to the 00:12:25.570 --> 00:12:27.809 physical toll. You mentioned his arm was swollen 00:12:27.809 --> 00:12:29.830 in Providence. Did he keep playing through the 00:12:29.830 --> 00:12:32.710 pain? He did, and it gets much worse in Pittsburgh. 00:12:33.049 --> 00:12:35.809 Before the game, a former All -American named 00:12:35.809 --> 00:12:38.529 Bo McMillan comes into the locker room, sees 00:12:38.529 --> 00:12:41.830 the condition Grange's arm is in, and begs him 00:12:41.830 --> 00:12:45.070 not to play. He tells him he's risking his future. 00:12:45.389 --> 00:12:48.509 Let me guess. He plays anyway. He goes out there 00:12:48.509 --> 00:12:51.149 anyway. And predictably, it ends in disaster. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:53.799 He suffers a torn ligament and a broken blood 00:12:53.799 --> 00:12:55.679 vessel, which leads to an artery hemorrhaging. 00:12:55.740 --> 00:12:58.860 Just horrific physical trauma for a 22 -year 00:12:58.860 --> 00:13:01.379 -old. And yet the tour continued into January. 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:04.600 They headed south and west. With all that grueling 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:07.080 travel and injury, was it just misery or did 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:09.559 they actually get to enjoy the celebrity lifestyle? 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:11.539 Oh, there were definitely flashes of the roaring 00:13:11.539 --> 00:13:14.460 20s lifestyle amidst all that pain. My favorite 00:13:14.460 --> 00:13:16.860 anecdote from the January tour happens in Tampa, 00:13:16.980 --> 00:13:19.659 Florida. Okay, lay it on me. It's the night before 00:13:19.659 --> 00:13:22.460 a game against the Tampa Cardinals. Grange gets 00:13:22.460 --> 00:13:24.980 pulled over by local police for doing 65 miles 00:13:24.980 --> 00:13:28.580 per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone. But look 00:13:28.580 --> 00:13:30.679 at who is in the car with him. He's driving around 00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:32.960 with two professional golfers and an Olympic 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:35.240 swimmer. It's like a traveling rat pack of early 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:38.159 sports stars. Exactly. And to get out of the 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:41.179 ticket, he just hands the cop 25 bucks and they 00:13:41.179 --> 00:13:44.899 let him go. A $25 bribe to get out of a speeding 00:13:44.899 --> 00:13:47.500 ticket with an Olympic swimmer in the passenger 00:13:47.500 --> 00:13:52.100 seat. That is the most 1920s story imaginable, 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:55.679 and he could certainly afford the $25. When the 00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:58.179 tour finally wrapped up, what was the financial 00:13:58.179 --> 00:14:02.320 takeaway for Grange? When CeCe Pyle handed Grange 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:05.220 his final check for that rookie season, Grange 00:14:05.220 --> 00:14:09.259 had made approximately $125 ,000. To put that 00:14:09.259 --> 00:14:11.519 in perspective, a highly skilled professional 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:13.600 football player at that time was making less 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:16.490 than $100 a game. So he didn't just break the 00:14:16.490 --> 00:14:19.269 wage scale, he shattered it. He invented the 00:14:19.269 --> 00:14:21.990 concept of athlete leverage. Which naturally 00:14:21.990 --> 00:14:24.470 leads us to ask, if we connect this to the bigger 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:27.090 picture, what happens when a star gets too big 00:14:27.090 --> 00:14:28.970 for the league? Right, because Grange and Pyle 00:14:28.970 --> 00:14:31.450 realized they were the main attraction. The NFL 00:14:31.450 --> 00:14:34.549 needed them more than they needed the NFL. Precisely. 00:14:34.649 --> 00:14:37.950 So Pyle tries to buy an ownership stake in the 00:14:37.950 --> 00:14:40.710 Chicago Bears. George Halas and the other owners 00:14:40.710 --> 00:14:44.139 firmly deny him. So Pyle and Grange do what any 00:14:44.139 --> 00:14:47.580 incredibly wealthy, ambitious duo in the 20s 00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:50.299 would do. They start their own league. Wait, 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:52.820 they just decided to start a rival football league 00:14:52.820 --> 00:14:55.259 from scratch? How does that even work logistically? 00:14:55.539 --> 00:14:58.100 It takes an incredible amount of audacity. They 00:14:58.100 --> 00:15:00.580 create the American Football League, the AFL. 00:15:01.019 --> 00:15:03.059 To give it legitimacy, they put themselves on 00:15:03.059 --> 00:15:05.580 a marquee team called the New York Yankees, and 00:15:05.580 --> 00:15:08.000 they managed to lease Yankee Stadium to play 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:09.799 in. So they're going head to head with the NFL. 00:15:10.019 --> 00:15:12.399 Exactly. They had to recruit players, establish 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:14.779 rival teams in other cities, and set up a completely 00:15:14.779 --> 00:15:17.139 parallel infrastructure. It was a direct threat 00:15:17.139 --> 00:15:19.860 to the establishment. But the entire league's 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:22.620 financial viability rested entirely on the shoulders 00:15:22.620 --> 00:15:25.440 and the drawing power of Red Grange. Did it work? 00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:28.080 The AFL only lasted one year before folding, 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:31.490 but it forced the NFL's hand. NFL ended up absorbing 00:15:31.490 --> 00:15:34.450 the Yankees franchise, bringing Grange back under 00:15:34.450 --> 00:15:36.730 their umbrella. So he's back in the NFL playing 00:15:36.730 --> 00:15:39.629 for the Yankees. But disaster was waiting for 00:15:39.629 --> 00:15:44.549 him, wasn't it? Yes. October 1927. The Yankees 00:15:44.549 --> 00:15:47.480 are playing the Bears in Chicago. Grange takes 00:15:47.480 --> 00:15:50.039 a hit from a Bears player named George Trafton. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:52.720 It's a messy play. Grange's cleat catches in 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:55.460 the turf, Trafton falls on him awkwardly, and 00:15:55.460 --> 00:15:57.960 Grange suffers a devastating knee injury. Oh, 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:00.700 man. It was a torn tendon, and the rudimentary 00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:02.460 medical treatments of the day just couldn't fix 00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:05.139 it properly. The galloping ghost, the man whose 00:16:05.139 --> 00:16:07.600 entire identity was built on world -class track 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:10.399 star speed, had his speed permanently taken away. 00:16:10.659 --> 00:16:13.519 It's a tragic moment for any athlete, but the 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:16.779 way Grange handled it... is incredibly revealing. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:18.899 I was struck by this beautiful heartbreaking 00:16:18.899 --> 00:16:21.299 quote from the source material. He said, after 00:16:21.299 --> 00:16:23.899 it happened, I was just another halfback. The 00:16:23.899 --> 00:16:26.100 humility in that statement is striking. He didn't 00:16:26.100 --> 00:16:28.519 deny it. He didn't make excuses. He just accepted 00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:31.539 his new physical reality. So if he couldn't outrun 00:16:31.539 --> 00:16:33.480 everyone anymore, how did he stay in the league? 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:36.039 This is the reinvention phase that makes him 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:38.799 a true football legend, not just a physical freak 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:42.429 of nature. He sits out the entire 1928 season 00:16:42.429 --> 00:16:45.529 to try and heal. He comes back to the Bears in 00:16:45.529 --> 00:16:48.889 1929. And instead of trying to be the offensive 00:16:48.889 --> 00:16:51.769 lightning bolt he once was, he reinvents himself. 00:16:52.070 --> 00:16:55.070 Into what? He becomes a gritty, highly intelligent 00:16:55.070 --> 00:16:58.679 defensive back and a situational player. Playing 00:16:58.679 --> 00:17:00.899 defense in that era meant reading the offense, 00:17:01.100 --> 00:17:03.639 understanding blocking schemes, and putting your 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:06.619 body on the line in open space. He learned how 00:17:06.619 --> 00:17:09.579 to outthink the game on a deeper level. And his 00:17:09.579 --> 00:17:12.000 two crowning moments late in his career reflect 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:14.599 that fundamental shift. Right. They weren't 95 00:17:14.599 --> 00:17:17.599 -yard kickoff returns. In the 1932 championship 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:20.000 game, he caught the game -winning touchdown on 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.400 a gritty short yardage play. And even better, 00:17:22.500 --> 00:17:25.700 in the 1933 championship game, he made a game 00:17:25.700 --> 00:17:27.910 -saving, touchdown -saving tackle. to secure 00:17:27.910 --> 00:17:30.029 the title for the Bears. The guy who used to 00:17:30.029 --> 00:17:32.670 outrun everyone won a championship by diagnosing 00:17:32.670 --> 00:17:34.269 a play and bringing someone else down. It's a 00:17:34.269 --> 00:17:36.589 full -circle moment for his career. It really 00:17:36.589 --> 00:17:39.730 shows his dedication to the sport itself beyond 00:17:39.730 --> 00:17:42.890 just his own personal glory. But while he was 00:17:42.890 --> 00:17:45.630 reinventing himself on the field, his off -field 00:17:45.630 --> 00:17:49.009 life was just as varied and interesting. Pyle 00:17:49.009 --> 00:17:51.130 didn't just see Grange as a football player. 00:17:51.269 --> 00:17:54.289 He saw him as a Hollywood star. How does a football 00:17:54.289 --> 00:17:56.890 player from Illinois transition into silent films? 00:17:57.319 --> 00:18:00.160 Pyle leverages Grange's fame to get him a starring 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:03.079 role in a movie called One Minute to Play. And 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:05.180 the production story highlights Pyle's sheer 00:18:05.180 --> 00:18:08.240 ruthlessness as a promoter. They're shooting 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:10.480 this in California during the blazing summer 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:12.819 heat. But the climax of the movie is supposed 00:18:12.819 --> 00:18:14.880 to be a college football game in the Midwest 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:17.779 during the crisp autumn. The studio couldn't 00:18:17.779 --> 00:18:20.119 afford to pay enough extras to sit in the sun 00:18:20.119 --> 00:18:23.099 wearing heavy wool coats. So how on earth did 00:18:23.099 --> 00:18:25.180 they pull off a stadium crowd in the middle of 00:18:25.180 --> 00:18:28.509 a California summer? Pyle runs a scam. He promotes 00:18:28.509 --> 00:18:30.769 the filming of the movie's climax as a real, 00:18:30.869 --> 00:18:33.589 genuine exhibition football game featuring Red 00:18:33.589 --> 00:18:36.170 Grange. He tells the public that anyone who shows 00:18:36.170 --> 00:18:38.529 up wearing autumn clothing gets in for free. 00:18:38.670 --> 00:18:41.329 Oh, that is devious. Thousands of eager fans 00:18:41.329 --> 00:18:44.150 show up in heavy sweaters and wool coats, sweating 00:18:44.150 --> 00:18:47.170 profusely in the California sun, acting as unpaid 00:18:47.170 --> 00:18:49.069 extras for the film, all because they thought 00:18:49.069 --> 00:18:50.869 they were getting a free ticket to see The Galloping 00:18:50.869 --> 00:18:53.910 Ghost. That is brilliant and ruthless marketing. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:57.140 Did he do more acting after that or was it a 00:18:57.140 --> 00:18:59.619 one -off? He took it quite seriously. He went 00:18:59.619 --> 00:19:02.460 on a vaudeville tour called Semon Red. He later 00:19:02.460 --> 00:19:05.380 starred in a 12 -part action serial called The 00:19:05.380 --> 00:19:07.500 Galloping Ghost. And he wasn't just standing 00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:09.740 there looking pretty. He insisted on doing his 00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:12.579 own strenuous stunts, vehicular chases, complex 00:19:12.579 --> 00:19:15.240 fight scenes. He was essentially an early action 00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:17.380 star. And looking at his post -football life, 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:21.019 his resume is almost comically diverse. What 00:19:21.019 --> 00:19:23.220 did he do once the cleats were permanently hung 00:19:23.220 --> 00:19:25.980 up? He didn't just rest on his laurels. He became 00:19:25.980 --> 00:19:28.339 an insurance broker in Chicago. He was a pioneer 00:19:28.339 --> 00:19:30.920 in sports broadcasting, announcing Bears games 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:34.460 for CBS and college games for NBC in the 1950s, 00:19:34.460 --> 00:19:36.980 bringing his deep understanding of the game to 00:19:36.980 --> 00:19:39.789 the viewers. Wow, a broadcaster too. At one point 00:19:39.789 --> 00:19:42.930 in 1944, he was even named the president of the 00:19:42.930 --> 00:19:46.009 United States Football League, a league that 00:19:46.009 --> 00:19:48.869 folded before playing a single game. But it shows 00:19:48.869 --> 00:19:51.390 his executive ambitions. He was president of 00:19:51.390 --> 00:19:53.630 the National Girls Baseball League. He was a 00:19:53.630 --> 00:19:55.630 Republican member of the University of Illinois 00:19:55.630 --> 00:19:58.390 Board of Trustees. He kept himself incredibly 00:19:58.390 --> 00:20:00.730 busy. He even came back to the center of the 00:20:00.730 --> 00:20:03.269 football world one more time when he tossed the 00:20:03.269 --> 00:20:06.789 coin at Super Bowl 12 in 1978. It was the perfect 00:20:06.789 --> 00:20:08.730 acknowledgment of the bridge he built. between 00:20:08.730 --> 00:20:11.269 the leather helmet days of dirt fields and the 00:20:11.269 --> 00:20:13.450 modern corporate behemoth the NFL had become. 00:20:13.549 --> 00:20:15.650 It really was. So what does this all mean? I 00:20:15.650 --> 00:20:18.210 want you listening right now to really imagine 00:20:18.210 --> 00:20:20.890 the sheer willpower it took for a 22 -year -old 00:20:20.890 --> 00:20:23.289 kid from a lumber camp to look at the establishment 00:20:23.289 --> 00:20:25.549 and say, no, my talent has value and I'm going 00:20:25.549 --> 00:20:28.809 to get paid for it. He was the very first athlete 00:20:28.809 --> 00:20:31.289 to commodify his own talent on a punishing national 00:20:31.289 --> 00:20:34.140 scale. He took the physical beating so that decades 00:20:34.140 --> 00:20:36.839 later, players would negotiate their own worth. 00:20:36.980 --> 00:20:39.480 He paved the way for the entire sports media 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:42.470 complex we consume today. This raises an important 00:20:42.470 --> 00:20:44.910 question for you to ponder long after this deep 00:20:44.910 --> 00:20:48.230 dive ends. Because Grange's midseason jump from 00:20:48.230 --> 00:20:51.549 college to the NFL was so controversial, the 00:20:51.549 --> 00:20:54.450 NFL instituted something called the Red Grange 00:20:54.450 --> 00:20:58.569 Rule in 1926. What did that do? This rule formally 00:20:58.569 --> 00:21:00.710 forbade players from joining the professional 00:21:00.710 --> 00:21:03.089 league until their college class had officially 00:21:03.089 --> 00:21:05.990 graduated. It was a rule designed to protect 00:21:05.990 --> 00:21:08.970 the colleges, and it was tested for... decades 00:21:08.970 --> 00:21:11.809 by players like Joe Savoldi in the 30s and Kenneth 00:21:11.809 --> 00:21:14.130 Davis in the 80s. That is fascinating. It brings 00:21:14.130 --> 00:21:17.519 up a big debate. If an athlete possesses a fleeting 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:19.859 once in a generation talent and their body is 00:21:19.859 --> 00:21:22.500 on the line every single play, who actually has 00:21:22.500 --> 00:21:25.039 the right to dictate when and how they are allowed 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:27.359 to cash in on it? That is the perfect question 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:30.059 to leave things on. The debate he started a century 00:21:30.059 --> 00:21:33.220 ago is still echoing in sports today. Thank you 00:21:33.220 --> 00:21:35.259 so much for joining us on this deep dive into 00:21:35.259 --> 00:21:37.640 the life of Red Grange. Keep questioning, keep 00:21:37.640 --> 00:21:39.420 learning, and we will catch you next time.