On This Date in Sports November 26, 1925: Red Grange Turns Pro
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
Harold "Red" Grange makes his NFL debut with the Chicago Bears just five days after playing his final collegiate game at Illinois. Grange had little time to prepare for his debut and learn how to play in the Bears' vaunted T-Formation. The Bears would take on the Chicago Cardinals at Cubs Park, drawing the largest crowd in NFL history with 36,000 in attendance on Thanksgiving. The game would end in a scoreless tie. Over the next two months, Red Grange and the Bears went on a Barnstorming Tour to boost professional football.
In 1925, the NFL was in its sixth season. College Football was king. Professional football players were looked down upon as miscreants and misfits. No educated or dignified gentleman would get involved in such a lowly profession as professional football. Harold "Red" Grange was born on June 13, 1903, in Forksville, Pennsylvania. Grange was the best player in the nation, setting rushing records as he led Illinois to a National Championship in 1923. Dubbed the "Galloping Ghost" by Warren Brown of Chicago sportswriter.
As the 1925 season came to an end for Illinois, professional teams seeking to land a big star line up to sign Red Grange. Before the season, he was approached by agent C.C. Pyle who proposed a deal to get him into the NFL, stating he could make upwards of $1 million. Pyle had proposed a Barnstorming Tour with the Bears. Other teams had wanted to sign Grange, but the Bears brokered a deal that would give him a percentage of gate receipts during the upcoming tour. As a result, Red Grange would make $100,000 in an era when most players were paid $100 per game.
While his debut left much to be desired, the desire to see Red Grange play became the story of the 1925 season, even overshadowing a controversial championship by the Cardinals. On Sunday, Grange had a much better game three days later, with a touchdown pass and 171 yards as the Bears defeated the Columbus Tigers 14-7 at Cubs Park. At the time, teams in the NFL made their own schedules, and they could change in season.
The game against the Tigers was the season finale, but the Bears added five league games in December while playing exhibitions against three All-Star teams; this resulted in Grange and the Bears playing eight games in 12 days a Red Grange Barnstorming Tour. All but one of the Bears' games was on the road; the Bears went from St. Louis to Philadelphia and New York. On December 6th at the Polo Grounds drew more than 70,000 saving the New York Giants from financial ruin. The Bears beat the Giants 19-7 but saved the franchise as his 35-yard interception return for a touchdown helped professional football take a foothold in New York.
During the tour, Red Grange visited President Calvin Coolidge at the White House, as everyone wanted a piece of the first true professional football star. The Red Grange Barnstorming Tour resumed on Christmas with a game in Miami against college All-Stars. It continued into January, going in through Florida in Tampa and Jacksonville. Then on to New Orleans before heading west. The tour went through Los Angeles, San Diego, San Fransico, and Portland before ending in Seattle.
Despite the tour saving professional football, the NFL, as well as college officials, wanted to prevent more players like Red Grange from making the jump in season, so a ban was issued preventing players from playing in the NFL in the same season that he played in college.