Red Grange
Encyclopedia
Harold Edward "Red" Grange, nicknamed "The Galloping Ghost", (June 13, 1903 – January 28, 1991) was a college
and professional American football
halfback
for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears
, and for the short-lived New York Yankees
. His signing with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League
. He was a charter member of both the College
and Pro Football Hall of Fame
. In 2008, he was named the best college football player of all time by ESPN
, and in 2011, he was named the Greatest Big Ten Icon by the Big Ten Network.
as the third child of Sadie and Lyle Grange. His father was the foreman of three lumber camps. When he was five, his mother died and his father moved the family to Wheaton, Illinois
, where four brothers had settled. When they arrived, Grange’s father worked hard and became the chief of police. At Wheaton High School
, Grange earned 16 varsity letters in four sports (football, baseball, basketball, and track) during the four years he attended, notably scoring 75 touchdowns and 532 points for the football team. As a high school junior, Grange scored 36 touchdowns and led Wheaton High School to an undefeated season. In his senior year, his team won every game but one in which they lost 39-0 to Scott High School
in Toledo, Ohio
. Knocked out in this game, Grange remained unconscious for two days, having difficulty speaking when he awoke.
To help the family earn money, he took a part time job as an ice toter for $37.50 per week, a job which helped him to build his core strength (and provided the source of the sometimes used nickname "Ice Man", or "the Wheaton Ice Man").
fraternity. He had initially planned to compete in only basketball and track but changed his mind once he arrived. In his first collegiate football game, he scored three touchdown
s against Nebraska
. In seven games as a sophomore, he ran for 723 yards and scored twelve touchdowns, leading Illinois to an undefeated season and the 1923 Helms Athletic Foundation
national championship.
Grange vaulted to national prominence as a result of his performance in the October 18, 1924, game against Michigan
. This was the grand opening game for the new Memorial Stadium
, built as a memorial to University of Illinois students and alumni who had served in World War I
. He returned the opening kickoff for a 95-yard touchdown and scored three more touchdowns on runs of 67, 56 and 44 yards in the first twelve minutes. This four-touchdown first quarter outburst equaled the number of touchdowns allowed by Michigan in the previous two seasons. After sitting out the second quarter, Grange returned in the second half to run 11 yards for a fifth touchdown and passed 20 yards for a sixth score as Illinois won 39-14 to end Michigan's 20-game unbeaten streak. He amassed 402 yards - 212 rushing, 64 passing and 126 on kickoff returns.
The game inspired Grantland Rice
to write the following poetic description:
However, it was Chicago
sportswriter Warren Brown
who nicknamed Grange "The Galloping Ghost." When questioned in a 1974 interview, "Was it Grantland Rice who dubbed you the Galloping Ghost?" Grange replied, "No, it was Warren Brown, who was a great writer with the Chicago's American
in those days."
As a college senior, in a 24-2 upset of the University of Pennsylvania
, Grange rushed for a career-high 237 yards through deep mud and scored three touchdowns. Laurence Stallings
, a famed war correspondent who had co-written What Price Glory? was hired to cover the game for the New York World
. After Grange accounted for 363 yards, Stallings said, "This story's too big for me. I can't write it." Grange's younger brother Garland
followed his footsteps to play football at Illinois.
In his 20-game college career
, he ran for 3,362 yards, caught 14 passes for 253 yards and completed 40-of-82 passes for 575 yards. Of his 31 touchdowns, 16 were from at least 20 yards, with nine from more than 50 yards. He scored at least one touchdown in every game he played but one, a 1925 loss to Nebraska. He earned All-America
recognition three consecutive years, and appeared on the October 5, 1925, cover of Time
.
His number 77 was retired at the University of Illinois in 1925. Only one other number has been retired in the history of University of Illinois football
, 50 worn by Dick Butkus
.
's Chicago Bears
the day after his last college game; player/manager George Halas
agreed to a contract for a 19-game barnstorming tour which earned Grange a salary and share of gate receipts that amounted to $100,000, during an era when typical league salaries were less than $100/game. That 67-day tour is credited with legitimizing professional football and the NFL in the United States.
On December 6, 1925, somewhere between 65,000 and 73,000 people showed up at the Polo Grounds to watch Grange, helping save the New York Giants
' franchise. Grange scored a touchdown on a 35-yard interception return in the Bears' 19-7 victory. Offensively, he ran for 53 yards on 11 carries, caught a 23-yard pass and completed 2-of-3 passes for 32 yards. In his first year, he accounted for at least 401 total yards and 3 touchdowns in his 5 official NFL games for the Bears.
Grange became involved in a dispute with the Bears and left to form his own league, the American Football League
, to challenge the NFL. The league only lasted one season, after which Grange's team, the New York Yankees, was assimilated into the NFL. Grange suffered a serious knee injury against the Bears, which robbed him of some speed and his cutting ability. After sitting out 1928, Grange returned to the Bears, where he was a solid runner and excellent defensive back through the 1934 season.
The two highlights of Grange's later NFL years came in consecutive championship games. In the unofficial 1932 championship, Grange caught the game winning touchdown pass from Bronko Nagurski
. In the 1933 championship, Grange made a touchdown saving tackle that saved the game and the title for the Bears.
realized that as the greatest football star of his era, Grange could attract moviegoers as well as sports fans. During his time as a professional football player, Grange starred in two silent films, One Minute to Play (1926) and Racing Romeo (1927). Grange also starred in a 12 part serial series The Galloping Ghost in 1931.
and sports announcer
. He announced Chicago Bears games on TV in the 1950s and later was the color commentator for the NBC-TV college football game of the week. Grange married his wife Margaret, nicknamed Muggs, in 1941, and they were together until his death in 1991. She was a flight attendant
, and they met on a plane. The couple had no children. He, however, has one surviving daughter – Rosemary Morrissey – born in 1928 from a previous relationship with Helen Flozack.
Grange developed Parkinson's disease
in his last year of life and died on January 28, 1991 in Morton, Illinois
.
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
and professional American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, and for the short-lived New York Yankees
New York Yankees (NFL)
The New York Yankees were a short-lived professional American football team from 1926 to 1928. The team was a member of the first American Football League in 1926, and later the National Football League from 1927-1928. They played their home games at Yankee Stadium...
. His signing with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. He was a charter member of both the College
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
and Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
. In 2008, he was named the best college football player of all time by ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
, and in 2011, he was named the Greatest Big Ten Icon by the Big Ten Network.
Early life
Grange was born in Forksville, PennsylvaniaForksville, Pennsylvania
Forksville is a borough in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 145 at the 2010 census. It is the home of the 150 year old Forksville General Store, down the road from the Sullivan County Fairgrounds, and near Worlds End State Park...
as the third child of Sadie and Lyle Grange. His father was the foreman of three lumber camps. When he was five, his mother died and his father moved the family to Wheaton, Illinois
Wheaton, Illinois
Wheaton is an affluent community located in DuPage County, Illinois, approximately west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Wheaton is the county seat of DuPage County...
, where four brothers had settled. When they arrived, Grange’s father worked hard and became the chief of police. At Wheaton High School
Wheaton Warrenville South High School
Wheaton Warrenville South High School, or WWSHS, is a public four-year high school located at the corner of Butterfield Road and Wiesbrook Road in the southwest corner of the Wheaton, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...
, Grange earned 16 varsity letters in four sports (football, baseball, basketball, and track) during the four years he attended, notably scoring 75 touchdowns and 532 points for the football team. As a high school junior, Grange scored 36 touchdowns and led Wheaton High School to an undefeated season. In his senior year, his team won every game but one in which they lost 39-0 to Scott High School
Scott High School (Toledo, Ohio)
Jesup Wakeman Scott High School is a public high school located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It is part of Toledo Public Schools. It was named for a former editor of The Toledo Blade from 1844 to 1847...
in Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
. Knocked out in this game, Grange remained unconscious for two days, having difficulty speaking when he awoke.
To help the family earn money, he took a part time job as an ice toter for $37.50 per week, a job which helped him to build his core strength (and provided the source of the sometimes used nickname "Ice Man", or "the Wheaton Ice Man").
College football
After graduation Grange enrolled at the University of Illinois, where he was admitted to the Zeta PsiZeta Psi
The Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America was founded June 1, 1847 as a social college fraternity. The organization now comprises about fifty active chapters and twenty-five inactive chapters, encompassing roughly fifty thousand brothers, and is a founding member of the North-American...
fraternity. He had initially planned to compete in only basketball and track but changed his mind once he arrived. In his first collegiate football game, he scored three touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
s against Nebraska
Nebraska Cornhuskers football
The Nebraska Cornhuskers represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in college football. The program has established itself as a traditional powerhouse, and has the fourth-most all-time victories of any NCAA Division I-A team. Nebraska is one of only six football programs in NCAA Division I-A...
. In seven games as a sophomore, he ran for 723 yards and scored twelve touchdowns, leading Illinois to an undefeated season and the 1923 Helms Athletic Foundation
Helms Athletic Foundation
The Helms Athletic Foundation was an athletic foundation based in Los Angeles, founded in 1936 by Bill Schroeder and Paul Helms. It put together a panel of experts to select National Champion teams and make All-America team selections in a number of college sports including football and basketball...
national championship.
Grange vaulted to national prominence as a result of his performance in the October 18, 1924, game against Michigan
Michigan Wolverines football
The Michigan Wolverines football program represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins and the highest winning percentage in college football history...
. This was the grand opening game for the new Memorial Stadium
Memorial Stadium (Champaign)
thumb|right|300px|Original plan for Memorial Stadium circa 1921. Caption from [[Popular Mechanics]] Magazine, 1921Memorial Stadium is a football stadium located in Champaign, Illinois, in the United States, on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The stadium is dedicated as...
, built as a memorial to University of Illinois students and alumni who had served in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He returned the opening kickoff for a 95-yard touchdown and scored three more touchdowns on runs of 67, 56 and 44 yards in the first twelve minutes. This four-touchdown first quarter outburst equaled the number of touchdowns allowed by Michigan in the previous two seasons. After sitting out the second quarter, Grange returned in the second half to run 11 yards for a fifth touchdown and passed 20 yards for a sixth score as Illinois won 39-14 to end Michigan's 20-game unbeaten streak. He amassed 402 yards - 212 rushing, 64 passing and 126 on kickoff returns.
The game inspired Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice
Grantland Rice was an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio.-Biography:...
to write the following poetic description:
A streak of fire, a breath of flame
Eluding all who reach and clutch;
A gray ghost thrown into the game
That rival hands may never touch;
A rubber bounding, blasting soul
Whose destination is the goal — Red Grange of Illinois!
However, it was Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
sportswriter Warren Brown
Warren Brown (sportswriter)
Warren Brown was an American sportswriter who spent the major portion of his career in Chicago, Illinois. Brown was born in Somersville, California, a mining town near San Francisco. His father Patrick was the local saloon keeper...
who nicknamed Grange "The Galloping Ghost." When questioned in a 1974 interview, "Was it Grantland Rice who dubbed you the Galloping Ghost?" Grange replied, "No, it was Warren Brown, who was a great writer with the Chicago's American
Chicago's American
Chicago American, an afternoon newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, was the last flowering of the aggressive journalistic tradition depicted in the play and movie The Front Page....
in those days."
As a college senior, in a 24-2 upset of the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, Grange rushed for a career-high 237 yards through deep mud and scored three touchdowns. Laurence Stallings
Laurence Stallings
Laurence Tucker Stallings was an American playwright, screenwriter, lyricist, literary critic, journalist, novelist, and photographer...
, a famed war correspondent who had co-written What Price Glory? was hired to cover the game for the New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
. After Grange accounted for 363 yards, Stallings said, "This story's too big for me. I can't write it." Grange's younger brother Garland
Garland Grange
Garland Arthur Grange was a professional American football player for the Chicago Bears from 1929 until 1931. Prior to his professional playing career, he played college football at the University of Illinois. He was the younger brother of, Illinois and Bears' star, Red Grange. In 1932 he served as...
followed his footsteps to play football at Illinois.
In his 20-game college career
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
, he ran for 3,362 yards, caught 14 passes for 253 yards and completed 40-of-82 passes for 575 yards. Of his 31 touchdowns, 16 were from at least 20 yards, with nine from more than 50 yards. He scored at least one touchdown in every game he played but one, a 1925 loss to Nebraska. He earned All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
recognition three consecutive years, and appeared on the October 5, 1925, cover of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
.
His number 77 was retired at the University of Illinois in 1925. Only one other number has been retired in the history of University of Illinois football
Illinois Fighting Illini football
The Illinois Fighting Illini are a major college football program, representing the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. They compete in NCAA Division I-A and the Big Ten Conference.-Current staff:-All-time win/loss/tie record:*563-513-51...
, 50 worn by Dick Butkus
Dick Butkus
Richard Marvin "Dick" Butkus is a former American football player for the Chicago Bears. He was drafted in 1965 and he is also widely regarded as one of the best and most durable linebackers of all time. Butkus starred as a football player for the University of Illinois and the Chicago Bears. He...
.
NFL career
He signed with the NFLNational Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
's Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
the day after his last college game; player/manager George Halas
George Halas
George Stanley Halas, Sr. , nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was a player, coach, owner and pioneer in professional American football. He was the iconic longtime leader of the NFL's Chicago Bears...
agreed to a contract for a 19-game barnstorming tour which earned Grange a salary and share of gate receipts that amounted to $100,000, during an era when typical league salaries were less than $100/game. That 67-day tour is credited with legitimizing professional football and the NFL in the United States.
On December 6, 1925, somewhere between 65,000 and 73,000 people showed up at the Polo Grounds to watch Grange, helping save the New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
' franchise. Grange scored a touchdown on a 35-yard interception return in the Bears' 19-7 victory. Offensively, he ran for 53 yards on 11 carries, caught a 23-yard pass and completed 2-of-3 passes for 32 yards. In his first year, he accounted for at least 401 total yards and 3 touchdowns in his 5 official NFL games for the Bears.
Grange became involved in a dispute with the Bears and left to form his own league, the American Football League
American Football League (1926)
The first American Football League , sometimes called AFL I, AFLG, or the Grange League, was a professional American football league that operated in 1926. It was the first major competitor to the National Football League. Founded by C. C...
, to challenge the NFL. The league only lasted one season, after which Grange's team, the New York Yankees, was assimilated into the NFL. Grange suffered a serious knee injury against the Bears, which robbed him of some speed and his cutting ability. After sitting out 1928, Grange returned to the Bears, where he was a solid runner and excellent defensive back through the 1934 season.
The two highlights of Grange's later NFL years came in consecutive championship games. In the unofficial 1932 championship, Grange caught the game winning touchdown pass from Bronko Nagurski
Bronko Nagurski
Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski was a Canadian-born American football player. He was also a successful professional wrestler, recognized as a multiple-time world heavyweight champion.-Youth and collegiate career:...
. In the 1933 championship, Grange made a touchdown saving tackle that saved the game and the title for the Bears.
Hollywood career
Grange's manager C. C. PyleC. C. Pyle
Charles C. "C. C." Pyle , often called Cash and Carry Pyle, was a Champaign, Illinois theater owner and sports agent who represented American football star Red Grange and French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen...
realized that as the greatest football star of his era, Grange could attract moviegoers as well as sports fans. During his time as a professional football player, Grange starred in two silent films, One Minute to Play (1926) and Racing Romeo (1927). Grange also starred in a 12 part serial series The Galloping Ghost in 1931.
Later life
Grange retired from professional football in 1934, earning a living in a variety of jobs including motivational speakerMotivational speaker
A motivational speaker or inspirational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. In a business context, they are employed to communicate company strategy with clarity and help employees to see the future in a positive light and inspire workers to pull...
and sports announcer
Announcer
An announcer is a presenter who makes "announcements" in an audio medium or a physical location.-Television and other media:Some announcers work in television production , radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in...
. He announced Chicago Bears games on TV in the 1950s and later was the color commentator for the NBC-TV college football game of the week. Grange married his wife Margaret, nicknamed Muggs, in 1941, and they were together until his death in 1991. She was a flight attendant
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
, and they met on a plane. The couple had no children. He, however, has one surviving daughter – Rosemary Morrissey – born in 1928 from a previous relationship with Helen Flozack.
Grange developed Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
in his last year of life and died on January 28, 1991 in Morton, Illinois
Morton, Illinois
Morton is a village in Tazewell County, Illinois, USA, known for its pumpkins and annual Pumpkin Festival. The population was 15,198 at the 2000 census. Morton, the home of a Caterpillar distribution facility and a Libby's pumpkin plant, is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical...
.
Legacy
- Grange's autobiography, first published in 1953, is The Red Grange Story. The book was written "as told to" Ira Morton, a syndicated newspaper columnist from Chicago.
- To commemorate college football's 100th anniversary in 1969, the Football Writers Association of AmericaFootball Writers Association of AmericaThe Football Writers Association of America is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the NCAA...
chose an all-time All-America team. Grange was the only unanimous choice. Then in 1999, he was ranked number 80 on The Sporting NewsThe Sporting NewsSporting News is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball"...
list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. In 2008, Grange was also ranked #1 on ESPN's Top 25 Players In College Football History list. - On January 15, 1978, at Super Bowl XIISuper Bowl XIISuper Bowl XII was an American football game played on January 15, 1978 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 1977 regular season...
, Grange became the first person other than the game refereeOfficial (American football)In American football, an official is a person who has responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game.During professional and college football games, seven officials operate on the field...
to toss the coinCoin flippingCoin flipping or coin tossing or heads or tails is the practice of throwing a coin in the air to choose between two alternatives, sometimes to resolve a dispute between two parties...
at a Super BowlSuper BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
. - In 2011, Grange was announced as #1 on the "Big Ten Icons" series presented by the Big Ten Network.
- In honor of his achievements at the University of Illinois, the school erected a twelve foot statue of Grange. The statue was dedicated at the start of the 2009 football season.
- In 1931, Grange visited Abington Senior High SchoolAbington Senior High SchoolAbington Senior High School is a three-year co-educational high school in Abington, Pennsylvania. The school was a two-year high school known as Abington South Campus until June 1983. In September 1984, Abington South Campus became a three-year high school and eventually changed its name to...
in Abington, PennsylvaniaAbington Township, Montgomery County, PennsylvaniaAbington Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 55,310 in as of the 2010 census.Abington Township is one of Montgomery County's oldest communities dating back to before 1700 and being incorporated in 1704. It is home to some of the county's...
, a suburb of Philadelphia. Shortly thereafter, the school adopted his nickname for the mascot in his honor, the Galloping Ghost. Also, Wheaton Warrenville South High SchoolWheaton Warrenville South High SchoolWheaton Warrenville South High School, or WWSHS, is a public four-year high school located at the corner of Butterfield Road and Wiesbrook Road in the southwest corner of the Wheaton, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...
's football field is named in his honor and the team is referred to as "The Wheaton Warrenville South Red Grange Tigers".
In popular culture
- In the song "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her ArmWith Her Head Tucked Underneath Her ArmWith Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm is a darkly humorous song, written in 1934 by R. P. Weston and Bert Lee, originally performed by Stanley Holloway...
" as released in 1960 by The Kingston TrioThe Kingston TrioThe Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...
on their album Sold Out, guards in the Tower of LondonTower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
mistake Ann Boleyn, haunting the castle with her head tucked underneath her arm after being beheaded, for Red Grange carrying a football. - The 2008 movie LeatherheadsLeatherheadsLeatherheads is a 2008 American sports comedy film from Universal Pictures directed by and starring George Clooney. The film also stars Renée Zellweger, Jonathan Pryce and John Krasinski and focuses on the early years of professional American football....
, starring George ClooneyGeorge ClooneyGeorge Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
, John KrasinskiJohn KrasinskiJohn Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
and Renée ZellwegerRenée ZellwegerRenée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire , and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary ...
, was loosely based on Grange.
External links
- Biography from an ESPNESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
website - New York Times Obit