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, Hollywood football idol, and broadcaster. He ranked with Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey in the 1920s as the most heralded figures in America's ''golden age of sport,'' and when Sports Illustrated did a special issue in 1991 on the greatest moments in sports, Grange was selected for the cover. Grange's star rose in tandem with that of the sport itself. His spectacular performance as a college player coincided with football's evolution into a rallying point of university life, undergirded by post-World War I money, cars, roads, stadiums, and mass media. With a natural talent and down-home image that helped legitimize professional football, Grange became one of the first athlete-heroes and the first major sports figure to serve as a play-by-play broadcast commentator. John Carroll depicts the career of this softspoken pioneer who helped lift pro football above its reputation as ''a dirty little business run by rogues and bargain-basement entrepreneurs.'' A reluctant celebrity and folk hero, Red Grange stood throughout his life as a symbol of older, rural American values: an unpretentious self-made individual making a 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.''Sport historians should find this biography a welcome addition to the body of work emerging on the careers of specific athletic figures. Carroll sets the record straight: the record, that is, until now concocted of journalists' anecdotes and Grange's typically sanitized 'as-told-to' autobiography.''--Michael Oriard, Oregon State University ''Carroll deals with the many myths surrounding Grange while maintaining his 'larger than life' athletic experiences. After all, Grange will probably be remembered as the most significant collegiate football player of the twentieth century.''--Ronald Smith, author of Big-Time Football at Harvard, 1905
''An excellent review of the life of Red Grange... Starting with the historic Illinois-Michigan college football game in 1924, the author provides substantial documentation in chronicling the life of Grange from the time of his difficult, even traumatic childhood and adolescence through his successes in college and professional football to this death... An informative and enjoyable book; highly recommended for all sports collection.'' - Library Journal ''Harold 'Red' Grange was arguably the most significant football player of all time... Carroll examines Grange's career in the light of its effect on football in particular and society in general... This is a carefully researched, well-written study of a man who forged new ground in football and in the art of being a celebrity. Expect interest as millennium lists of great athletes continue to showcase Grange.'' - Booklist ''In addition to the hindsighted look into Grange's character, the book also gives us a window into the early days of professional football, and lets us see how far the pro game has come in the past 80 years.'' - Chris Dettro, State-Journal - Register, Springfield, IL ''Carroll conveys the importance of the career of ... 'Red' Grange (1903-91), the most significant American football player of the 20th century... His complete story is an important component for understanding the great game of football's status within American culture. Documentation of sources is exceptionally well done and exhaustively detailed. Highly recommended.'' - Choice ''A special appeal of Carroll's detailed biography is that it can be read on two levels, as a straightforward chronicle of Grange's exploits in sports and entertainment and as a thoughtful inquiry into the origins and meaning of a leading American sports phenomenon...While clarifying the details of Grange's life and debunking some aspects of his career, Carroll still manages to retain the appealing qualities of a gifted football player whose actual exploits delighted thousands of onlookers and captured the imaginations of millions more.'' - Vernon L. Volpe, Journal of Illinois History ''Well-crafted, interesting biography.'' - Keith McClellan, Indiana Magazine of History ADVANCE PRAISE ''Sport historians should find this biography a welcome addition to the body of work emerging on the careers of specific athletic figures. Carroll sets the record straight: the record, that is, until now concocted of journalists' anecdotes and Grange's typically sanitized 'as-told-to' autobiography.''-Michael Oriard, Oregon State University ''Carroll deals with the many myths surrounding Grange while maintaining his 'larger than life' athletic experiences. After all, Grange will probably be remembered as the most significant collegiate football player of the twentieth century.''-Ronald Smith, author of Big-Time Football at Harvard, 1905
