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The Galloping Ghost: Red Grange, an American Football Legend
In the 1920s four athletes defined American Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Bobby Jones, and Red Grange. They were the country's first athletic pantheon, its Mount Rushmore, and for a few brief years Red Grange outshone them all. The Galloping Ghost tells the remarkable untold story of this fleet-footed college football player who inspired poetry, dazzled fans as he felled opponents on the field, and, with the help of an unscrupulous and utterly brilliant manager (the first real-life Jerry Maguire), helped launch and legitimize professional football, changing American sports forever.
In this first major biography of Red Grange, Gary Andrew Poole draws on exhaustive research and interviews to evoke the golden age of sports in all its splendor and outrageousness. He transports readers from college football rallies to barnstorming tours, from the locker room to the White House to Hollywood, as he recounts Grange’s rise and tragic fall. And he lays bare the fascinating and psychologically complex relationship between a star athlete and the nation’s first real sports agent—a relationship that encapsulated the good and shadowy sides of sports and how they inevitably intersected.
For fans of Cinderella Man, The Devil and Sonny Liston, and The Devil in the White City, The Galloping Ghost is a provocative, character-driven, atmospheric sports history that gives us a new understanding of a seminal sports figure, from raw and innocent athletic talent to mortal American icon. A symbol of rebellious manhood and virility, Red Grange is a reminder of the fleeting nature of fame, youth, and physical dominance.
In this first major biography of Red Grange, Gary Andrew Poole draws on exhaustive research and interviews to evoke the golden age of sports in all its splendor and outrageousness. He transports readers from college football rallies to barnstorming tours, from the locker room to the White House to Hollywood, as he recounts Grange’s rise and tragic fall. And he lays bare the fascinating and psychologically complex relationship between a star athlete and the nation’s first real sports agent—a relationship that encapsulated the good and shadowy sides of sports and how they inevitably intersected.
For fans of Cinderella Man, The Devil and Sonny Liston, and The Devil in the White City, The Galloping Ghost is a provocative, character-driven, atmospheric sports history that gives us a new understanding of a seminal sports figure, from raw and innocent athletic talent to mortal American icon. A symbol of rebellious manhood and virility, Red Grange is a reminder of the fleeting nature of fame, youth, and physical dominance.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1984
About the author
Gary Andrew Poole
2 books2 followersGary Andrew Poole is the author of The Galloping Ghost: Red Grange, an American Football Legend (Houghton Mifflin).
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This past January, ESPN named Harold Red Grange the greatest college football player ever. Yet for all his achievements, Grange has been a largely overlooked and unexplored icon, until now. In The Galloping Ghost, Gary Andrew Poole gives us the first major biography of Grange, one of the most significant athletes in American sports and the founding father of our football culture. A tremendous college player who decided to go against convention and turn pro in the 1920sa time when football was seen as a purely amateur sportRed Grange is known as the man responsible for popularizing the NFL, altering the American sports landscape forever.
Red Grange was the most important figure in the history of American football, both college and pro, and Gary Andrew Pooles extremely well-researched biography of the man sheds new light on Granges career . . . A fascinating read. William Nack, author of Secretariat and Ruffian
A provocative, atmospheric sports history that provides a new understanding of a seminal sports figure, from raw and innocent athletic talent to mortal American icon, The Galloping Ghost brings the legend of Red Grange to a new generation and underscores his enormous impact on American sports.
With superb reporting and deft writing, Gary Andrew Poole pulls off his version of a spectacular Grange touchdown run, invigorating a legendary sports story with energy and new detail. Granges inner life is explored as broken-field runs come alive and a controversial saga plays out. John Eisenberg, author of The Great Match Race
*
Poole has written for the New York Times, TIME, GQ, Wired, and other publications.
His Website: www.garyandrewpoole.com"
*
This past January, ESPN named Harold Red Grange the greatest college football player ever. Yet for all his achievements, Grange has been a largely overlooked and unexplored icon, until now. In The Galloping Ghost, Gary Andrew Poole gives us the first major biography of Grange, one of the most significant athletes in American sports and the founding father of our football culture. A tremendous college player who decided to go against convention and turn pro in the 1920sa time when football was seen as a purely amateur sportRed Grange is known as the man responsible for popularizing the NFL, altering the American sports landscape forever.
Red Grange was the most important figure in the history of American football, both college and pro, and Gary Andrew Pooles extremely well-researched biography of the man sheds new light on Granges career . . . A fascinating read. William Nack, author of Secretariat and Ruffian
A provocative, atmospheric sports history that provides a new understanding of a seminal sports figure, from raw and innocent athletic talent to mortal American icon, The Galloping Ghost brings the legend of Red Grange to a new generation and underscores his enormous impact on American sports.
With superb reporting and deft writing, Gary Andrew Poole pulls off his version of a spectacular Grange touchdown run, invigorating a legendary sports story with energy and new detail. Granges inner life is explored as broken-field runs come alive and a controversial saga plays out. John Eisenberg, author of The Great Match Race
*
Poole has written for the New York Times, TIME, GQ, Wired, and other publications.
His Website: www.garyandrewpoole.com"
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 18, 2024
Easy to read bio of Red that also encompasses 1920s college football and its coaches, the nascent NFL and general culture.
August 31, 2011
I'm missing what others have enjoyed about this book, because it uses a technique I've seen in some recent biographies that really rubs me the wrong way. The approach I'm referring to (which I also recently came across in a book on the 1918 Major League Baseball season) is where a writer collects newspaper clippings and then essentially concocts a story and tries to pass it off as fact.
The following is not taken verbatim from the book but is, I think, an example for the "writing" it contains.
The writer tells a story that may have never happened. Each of those incidences might be something that happened once, according to a newspaper article from somewhere. But to string them together and pass it off as a true story is completely disingenuous.
I encourage you to read the book with a heaping dose of discretion. When you read an account of what somebody said, how somebody felt, or what somebody was thinking, check the appendix and see if there is a reference (newspaper article or interview) as a source for these musings. You'll find more often than not that there is none.
There are some interesting historical facets to the book. Residents of Champaign-Urbana may find some interest in the rather lengthy history on the Virginia Theater. And big-time NFL history buffs will no doubt find plenty of interest.
Other than that, the book reads as a rather tedious play-by-play account of his career. I enjoy details, but I don't need to read a full page detailing each and every time that Grange touched the ball during his collegiate career. More forest and fewer trees, thank you very much.
The following is not taken verbatim from the book but is, I think, an example for the "writing" it contains.
The Wednesday before the big game, Grange took a motorcycle to the local doughnut shop on the corner of University and 23rd.
He had borrowed it from a friend who told him he could use it in exchange for tickets to a conference game later on that season.
Betsy, a blonde waitress with sun-dappled cheeks, asked "The usual, Red?"
Grange replied "Yes, but today I'll take it to go."
Minutes later, Grange was out the door, back into the crisp fall afternoon, having left a 5-cent tip on the counter.
Grange admired the changing of the leaves on his ride back to the dorm rooms, noting to himself that he needed to keep focus on that weekend's upcoming contest versus Michigan.
"Who's got time to study for finals with the Wolverines coming to town on Saturday?"
The writer tells a story that may have never happened. Each of those incidences might be something that happened once, according to a newspaper article from somewhere. But to string them together and pass it off as a true story is completely disingenuous.
I encourage you to read the book with a heaping dose of discretion. When you read an account of what somebody said, how somebody felt, or what somebody was thinking, check the appendix and see if there is a reference (newspaper article or interview) as a source for these musings. You'll find more often than not that there is none.
There are some interesting historical facets to the book. Residents of Champaign-Urbana may find some interest in the rather lengthy history on the Virginia Theater. And big-time NFL history buffs will no doubt find plenty of interest.
Other than that, the book reads as a rather tedious play-by-play account of his career. I enjoy details, but I don't need to read a full page detailing each and every time that Grange touched the ball during his collegiate career. More forest and fewer trees, thank you very much.
January 27, 2015
A book not so much about Red Grange, but because of him. This book spends as much time discussing Grange's manager & promoter, CC Pyle, as it does the first superstar of professional football. This is not your typical sports book featuring play by play recaps of games, but an investigation into the business, backroom politics, and violence of the early game. A really good read.
May 24, 2015
Overall, a well written, good book, but a sad story. Grange, considered by some to be the greatest player ever, especially while at Illinois, was fully abused by his manager Pyle, and therefore, most did not get to see his greatness. However, this story really helps you understand more about the beginnings of the pro game. A fascinating and, in some ways, tragic tale.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews