TUESDAY TIDBITS: The Day of the Halfback

By TJ Troup 

There are eight teams in the AFC with a winning record, and nine teams in the NFC. The home stretch is about to begin with not only some very tight and competitive division races, but also the possible tie breakers for "wild card" berths. 

No doubt compelling drama awaits us and as such stocked up on smokehouse almonds and Dr. Pepper this week. The 2025 season is one of many where we have had teams fighting to earn a division title, and today we are going to go back 60 years for the day of the halfback! 

Don Shula's BALTIMORE Colts surprised many folks by winning the Western Conference title in 1964; could he continue to keep the Colts on top? Vince Lombardi has finished second back-to-back seasons; will he be able to get his Fox River studs back to the top? 

Finally, the strong showing of Minnesota in '64 has Viking fans talking of being in the race? Would there be a surprise team in the Western Conference in 1965? After six weeks, the Colts are 5-1 with their only loss to a revitalized Packer team, and that team is back where St. Vince wants them ... ON TOP! 

Many times the George Halas Chicago Bears have started a season slowly, then caught fire (1949, 1955, and 1959) only to fall short. The Bears begin the '65 campaign 0-3 and have allowed 105 points. The Bear pass defense has been scorched! Has George Allen lost his touch since the Bears defensive passer rating is an abysmal 114.0! 

Chicago rebounds to win three straight and continues to play strong football as they beat the Packers in Wrigley Field 31-10. After twelve weeks, Chicago has clawed their way into the race and stands 8-4 after shouting out the Colts in Baltimore. There is no doubt Halas would not intentionally want to help the Lombardi Packers, yet that is exactly what has happened since Johnny Hightops is injured in the loss to the Bears. Gary Cuozzo is considered a quality back-up, but he is not John Unitas; but who is? 

Lombardi takes his team to Baltimore, where he has won 2 and lost 4 for the showdown. The foggy day just adds to the drama as the score is 14-13 in favor of Green Bay just before the half. Paul Hornung has reached back in time and re-discovered his big game, and big play ability as he has scored twice once on a run, and once on a pass reception when he read the Colt blitz (we called this the "hot call" in my coaching days)and heads up the left sideline to take Starr's pass for 50 yards and a touchdown. Left corner Bobby Boyd returned Jim Taylor's fumble to the Packers three-yard line. Cuozzo attempts to toss a flare pass to Jerry Hill on the right side, but leaping up to intercept is left linebacker Dave Robinson. 

Credit: Walter Iooss 

The photo of Robinson leaping in the air to pilfer the pigskin is eye-popping, and away Dave goes ... 87 yards before he his hauled down by Lenny Moore. Starr completes to Dowler to add to the Packer lead 21-13. Hornung entered the game having gained 190 yards on 47 carries in the 10 games he has played in (missed both Minnesota games), and in the first half today, 9 carries for 41 yards. The 3rd quarter is all Green Bay as the "Golden Boy" scores twice more on the ground, and then his biggest play as he takes a Starr toss in the 4th quarter, 65 yards to score his 5th touchdown (this is the only game in Paul Hornung's career where he gains over 100 yards receiving)! 

Through the first three quarters, Cuozzo completed 9 of 20 for just 84 yards, and when he was hit hard, Tom Matte replaced him at the triggerman position and struggled with his accuracy as safety Tom Brown of the Packers made a key interception. Cuozzo returns to fill the damp foggy air with passes as he completes 11 of 18 in the 4th quarter for 128 yards. The Packer victory gives them a record of 10-3, with the Colts right behind at 9-3-1. The final weekend will decide which of these two teams will represent the West, right? Oh, there is another team that has a chance? 

If the Bears win their last two, and both the Packers & Colts lose, the Bears will have a special play-off game with Green Bay. First things first, though, the Bears have to beat San Francisco on this 12th day of December, 1965. From 1961 through 1964 only four teams in the NFL scored over 400 points in a season, and all four were playoff teams. Today at Wrigley the high-powered 49ers who scored 52 on opening day against the Bears can squelch all Chicago hopes with a victory. 

Watching the "NFL Play by Play" report with Jim Gibbons detailing the action of these two teams that have had many hard-fought games is a joy. Chicago has won 16 and San Francisco 14 in the sixteen-year rivalry. Rookie Gale Sayers of the Bears has captured the imagination of many with his ability to break away and score all season, and in the first quarter, the "Kansas Comet" rockets 80 yard with a screen pass to put the Bears on the scoreboard. Later in the quarter Rudy "The Rifle" Bukich leads tight end Mike Ditka perfectly and the burly Bear latches onto the ball one-handed and falls in the end zone to score. Where were the 49er safeties? 

Gale Sayers

John Brodie has had a magnificent year delivering strikes to split end Dave Parks, and they engineer a 78-yard drive with Parks easily beating Whitsell on an out pattern to score from the nine. Chicago is positioned on the San Francisco twenty-one after a Jon Arnett 77-yard kickoff return! The mud does not limit Sayers's ability to explode as he scampers 21 yards to score on a trap left. San Francisco responds with another impressive drive culminating in a John David Crow 15-yard touchdown reception. The Niners are back in the game down 20 to 13. 

John Brodie

Can the Bears mount a drive right before the half? You betcha! and at 14:28 Sayers sweeps right for 7 yards and a touchdown. The 3rd quarter is more of the rookie sensation at his best as he dashes 50 yards to score on an off tackle play to the right, and then scores later in the quarter as he catapults over the line from the one. Chicago 40 San Francisco 13. After a 49er touchdown, the Bears drive 76 yards as Bukich zips an 8 yard pass to Jim Jones (another Bear rookie). 

San Francisco must punt as Davis booms the ball to Sayers on his own fifteen. There have been many long scoring plays in NFL history, yet when you watch Sayers cut left in the mud is breathtaking. Six touchdowns, yes, not a misprint -- SIX! During the game Jon Arnett carries the ball more than Gale does, yet Sayers goes over the 100-yard mark for the third time. Sayers watches from the sideline as Arnett scores the final Bear touchdown. 

Chicago gained 298 yards in total offense in the first half, and while they could not exceed that output in the second half finishing with 584 is just damn impressive. Halas did send Sayers back in the game one last time, and when Davis punts on the final play imagine the Bear fans hoping he could do it one more time. He has already gained 306 yards rushing, receiving, and on punt returns, but he only goes 30 as the gun sounds. Mentioned earlier in the saga that the Allen defense had played very poor pass defense those first three games; well the final eleven of the year the Bears had a defensive passer rating of 49-27! 

We all know what transpired the final weekend of the season as the gutty Colt victory on Saturday afternoon in the Coliseum against the Rams eliminated the Bears. San Francisco continued to battle and managed a tie with the Packers, setting up another legendary game, but that is a story for another day?

OTD: 100th Anniversary Red Grange-Chicago Bears Tour: Washington Game

LOOKING BACK

By Chris Willis

The Grange-Bears tour finally left New York. It headed south to the nation’s capital.

After a day off the Grange-Bears tour was back on the field, but only after an impromptu visit to the White House. On the morning of the game, Red got a unique request. Illinois Senator William McKinley, who was a graduate of Illinois and had seen many Illini home football games of Red’s, and William Holaday, a U.S. House of Representative from Illinois (who also played a little college football at Penn College and Missouri) and who received his Law Degree from Illinois, invited the redhead to the White House to meet President Calvin Coolidge. Red quickly said yes. Joining Red would be George Halas, “Doc” Coolley, and Byron Moore. Red, dressed in a dark winter overcoat with quarter-size buttons, a fedora, a suit and tie with a striped scarf around his neck, wanted to look like an average twenty-two-year-old. He allowed his good friend Coolley to wear his trademark raccoon fur coat. 

The foursome was picked up by the Senator and transported from the Lee House to the White House. After posing for a few photos outside the famous building the whole group went inside. Red recalled meeting the President: “I remember our game in Washington very well. Senator McKinley called George Halas and asked us if we’d like to meet the President. And, of course, we were flattered and thrilled to have the opportunity to meet President Coolidge And the Senator picked us up and took us to the White House. And I remember so well as if it was yesterday. He said ‘Mr. President, this is George Halas and Red Grange with the Chicago Bears.’ I remember President Coolidge saying, ‘Young men, I’m very happy to meet you, I always did like animal acts.”

A few minutes later the entire group left the White House. In newspapers across the country, it was reported that Red had meet the President. In every article it just mentioned that he briefly met Coolidge, who shook his hand, asked him “where he was from?” and wished him good luck. 

It was obvious that the President didn’t know who Red was, since he had to ask where he was from. Most sports fans and citizens knew that the redhead was from Wheaton. This meeting became a banquet story told by Red and Halas for decades. 

Now it was onto the game. The Washington game was set up between Pyle and local sports promoter Al Stern who agreed to give “Cash-and-Carry” 60 percent of the gate. 

ickets were sold for $2.50 (general admission), $3.85 (grandstands) and $5.50 (box seats) at Griffith Stadium and Spalding’s Sporting Goods. 

Stern and Pyle also agreed to offer five thousand tickets at $1.00 to prep, high school and college fans. 

Advertisements in the local papers announced, “Red Grange at Griffith Stadium,” with no mention of the Chicago Bears or the Washington All-Stars.

   

As for the team Stern organized it was a rather rough and tough group of players. Because of the haste Stern was able to only sign a few quality pro football players, including Jack Hagerty, a former Georgetown star who played for the New York Giants (1926-1932), fullback Roy Mackert (Maryland), halfbacks Ira McKee (Navy) and Les Hawes (Dartmouth) who also played for the Frankford Yellow Jackets. 

Most of the roster was semi-pro players from the area. “I honestly believe that we’ll give the Bears a real battle,” shouted Ira McKee with confidence.

The Bears were starting to feel the strain of playing several games in a row as tackle Ed Healey and center George Trafton would sit out with nagging knee injuries. But Red would put in his allotted time to please the fans. Most contracts drawn up by Pyle had him obligated to play at least 25 minutes. In the press box would be the usual suspects of Peglar, MacNamara, and Frick, but this time they would be joined by local writers Ross Conklin of the Washington Times, Frank Young and Walter Haight of the Washington Post, as well as Arthur Chamberlin of the New York World Service. 

The crowd was very disappointing for both teams. It also didn’t help that the game was scheduled on a Tuesday afternoon (2:00 p.m. kickoff). Newspapers announced as many as 15,000 and as low as 5,000, but the crowd most likely was 5,000. Most spectators sat in the cheap seats paying $1.00 in the southeast corner of Griffith Stadium. The first half became a slug-fest with no scoring. Red did nothing to separate himself from the other players. “When he retired early in the second quarter, probably for the first time in his young life he was greeted with several raspberries,” wrote the Washington Post. The Bears then suddenly started to make some plays in the second half this time on defense as Duke Hanny (30 yards) and Johnny Bryan (65 yards) returned interceptions for touchdowns. The game ended with Dutch Sternaman and Washington guard Nick Busch staging a boxing match on the field- both were ejected by referee Harmon. The Bears won 19-0.

Red struggled mightily against the Washington team. The Washington Post credited Red with 11 carries for just 8 yards; 0 for 3 on passes, no punt returners, 3 tackles on defense and made one of two extra-point kicks. 

The local press wasn’t kind to the redhead. Ross Conklin of the Washington Times wrote “Red Shows Nothing Here: Other Players Far Outshine Chicago Bears’ Big Drawing Card,” and called him a “bust.” Walter Haight of the Washington Post wrote “Red a Sheep in Bear’s Clothing: Merely ‘Puts in Time’”. The Post recap had three photos, including an image of Red being tackled hard and one sitting on the bench in between Jim McMillian and Don Murry. Frank Young, also of the Post, wrote about the prospects of pro football in Washington: “True, Grange himself proved quite a disappointment when the game actually staged, but fans could not anticipate this in advance and the fact that such a small number showed up, proves conclusively that, no matter what the attraction, as long as it is pro football, Washington fans are not interested.” 

 The Grange tour had proved that the pro football was a game that could entertain and be a business- games in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York proved that. The Nation’s Capital would be slow in recognizing the popularity of the pro game. Not ever stop on the tour would spread the NFL’s propaganda. Washington wouldn’t embrace the NFL until 1937 when the Redskins arrived in town. Maybe if the game was played on the weekend like the other big cities the crowd would’ve been bigger. After the game Al Stern reported that Red and company collected $6,752.52 while the gate brought in between $11,000 and $12,000. He claimed he broke even. As for Red he was beat up. Not only was he dead tired he had suffered a bruised nose, a badly hurt mouth and a wrenched left arm. At 7:00 p.m. the tour boarded another train to head back north for Boston.

Packers Fend Off Bears at Lambeau Field

 By Eric Goska

Mooove over Bears, the Packers are in first place!
(photos by Eric Goska)

Packers fans, you can exhale now.

But don’t get complacent. That rampaging Bear your team just encountered isn’t going into hibernation anytime soon.

Pushed to the limit by its longtime rival, Green Bay withstood every blow to register a 28-21 win over Chicago Sunday at Lambeau Field. The victory moved the Packers (9-3-1) into first place in the NFC North Division ahead of the Bears (9-4).

For you doubters out there, know this: the Monsters of the Midway are for real. Only an interception in the red zone with 22 seconds left ended the threat they presented, a looming menace that seemed to gain strength with every offensive snap.

Restricted to 19 plays in the first half, Chicago launched 40 after the break. Held to 71 yards in the opening two quarters, the Bears amassed 244 in the final 30 minutes.

Having punted four times in the first half, Chicago had no need for Tory Taylor down the stretch except when he held for field goal and extra point attempts. Limited to 13 minutes, 16 seconds of possession before the break, the Bears took control for 20:13 in the second half.

Such an onslaught would test any defense.

“What a second half,” gushed play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt after the Bears tied the score at 21. “It’s – I think this is the first time I can remember all year seeing the Packers’ D just gassed.”

Color analyst Tom Brady echoed that sentiment after Bears running back Kyle Monangai picked up six to reach the Green Bay 17-yard line with less than two minutes remaining.

“They’ve (the Bears) have really worn this team (the Packers) down,” Brady asserted.

Monangai carried twice more for three yards to set up fourth-and-one from the Green Bay 14. From there, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams rolled to his left but underthrew an open Cole Kmet in the end zone.

Keisean Nixon intercepted to end the threat and salt away the game.

If Green Bay’s defense was gassed in the second half, credit and/or blame the Bears. The visitors converted seven of nine third downs. Their four longest gains – passes of 27 (to Luther Burden), 26 (Kmet), 24 (Devin Duvernay) and 18 (Burden) – came after intermission.

The Bears took 5:36 off the clock in foraging for their first touchdown, a 10-play, 64-yard advance capped by Williams’ 1-yard pass to Olamide Zaccheaus. They used up 8:32 on a 17-play, 83-yard excursion that culminated in a 1-yard TD toss to Colston Loveland.

Chicago spent more time on Green Bay’s side of the field in the second half than it did its own. Twenty-eight of its 40 plays (70 percent) originated beyond the 50, good for 150 yards, 10 first downs, two touchdowns and a field goal.

Historically, the Bears rarely stake out such a wide-sweeping territorial claim. Only three times before in the last 75 years of the rivalry have they run 28 or more second-half plays beyond the 50, having last done so in 1983.

Those 28 plays represent a season high for Green Bay’s defense. The Bengals (26 plays), Giants (25) and Commanders (23) also nicked them for more than 20 in the second half.

Fortunately, the Green and Gold does not have to face Cincinnati, New York or Washington again this season. They will, of course, tangle with the Bears again, an animal intent on maximizing its playoff position while exacting revenge.

Territorial Animals
Since 1950, the six regular-season games in which Chicago ran 25 or more second-half plays in Packers territory.

Plays     Date                Yards    FDs    TDs    Result
29           Sept. 6, 1981       137          8          1         GB won, 16-9
29           Oct. 3, 1965         123         9          1          GB won, 23-14
28           Dec. 7, 2025        150        10         2         GB won, 28-21
28           Dec. 18, 1983      136        10         2          GB lost, 21-23
25           Nov. 18, 1951       117          8          2         GB lost, 13-24
25           Nov. 8, 1987        86           7          1          GB lost, 24-26

OTD: 100th Anniversary Red Grange-Chicago Bears Tour - New York Game

 LOOKING BACK
By Chris Willis, NFL Films

     From the start, when Red signed his contract to play pro football, the game in New York was going to be a big event in the Big Apple. The New York Giants announced early on they would not increase ticket prices for the “Red Grange game.” Regular prices ranged from 50 cents to $2.75. It was a smart move by Giants owner Tim Mara. On Sunday Nov. 29^th (just three days after Red played his first pro game on Thanksgiving) during their game against the Dayton Triangles, nine booths were opened at the Polo Grounds, as the Giants sold over 15,000 tickets to the Red Grange game. Later on during the week additional tickets were sold at the Giants ticket office and at the Polo Grounds. On December 4^th advance sales were reported to be over 45,000. 

On three separate occasions new tickets had to be printed up to meet the demand. Almost every mention of the contest was called the “Red Grange Game,” with a slight mention of the Chicago Bears.

   All week the New York newspapers wrote about Red Grange and his appearance in New York. Some articles included photographs of the redhead. It was an event worthy of the Big Apple. Ford Frick of the New York Evening Journal wrote:

    “Not since Mr. Babe Ruth went on his home run rampage a few seasons ago has any athlete attracted so much attention as Mr. Grange. Almost single handed he has filled stadium after stadium…Like Ruth, he is a hero whether he runs for a touchdown or is thrown for a loss.” 

    Tim Mara needed this type of game. He had been losing money all season, reports mentioned that he had a financial deficit of about $40,000. Mara had been rethinking his investment into a NFL franchise in New York, but the early sales of the Grange game picked his spirits up. Mara’s squad was preparing to stop the Galloping Ghost. Giants coach Bob Folwell (former college head coach at four different schools, including at Navy from 1920-1924, where he won over 100 games) had a plan for Grange.

    “It will be the duty of the Giants to stop Grange short of the scrimmage line. Two strong, aggressive tackles will consistently stop the greatest runner before he reaches the line, and we are confident that our team possesses two tackles of this type in (Century) Milstead and (Babe) Parnell.

    We are looking forward to a very spectacular and hard-fought battle with Grange, and his new teammates next Sunday, but not one member of our squad is worrying over the outcome.”

    On the morning of the game the rain had stopped on the east coast and the sky was clearing. Mara knew this could be a day that could save his team. “When I saw that crowd and knew half the cash in the house was mine, I said to myself, ‘Timothy, how long has this gravy train been running,” commented Mara about seeing the massive crowd arrive. The gates at the Polo Grounds opened at 11:30 a.m. with a 2:00 pm kickoff. At noon the Basile’s Regimental Band played a few tunes such as “Hail, Hail, the Gang’s All Here” and “The Sidewalks of New York.” At 1:15 p.m. the Bears jogged out onto the field. What they saw was another record crowd for a pro football game. Newspapers reported the crowd between 65,000-70,000, which matched the Army-Navy game held at the Polo Grounds a week earlier. “I don’t think there were too many rabid fans one way or the other,” recalled Wellington Mara, son of Giants owner Tim Mara. “We hadn’t had time to build up that much of a following. I think they were there to see Red Grange perform, without any questions.” Inside the stadium bunting decorated the stands and it was a perfect day for a football game, “bright and balmy” wrote the New York Times.

In the press box the ever-growing number of sportswriters was increasing. Over 100 newspaper writers crowded the box including some of the most influential sports scribes in the country. The group there to see Red were Westbrook Pegler (Chicago Tribune), Harry MacNamara (Chicago Herald-Examiner), Harry Neily (Chicago American), Richard Vidmer (New York Times), Allison Danzig (New York Times), W. O. McGeehan (New York Herald-Tribune), Marshall Hunt (New York Daily News), Frank O’Neil (New York Evening-Journal), Ford Frick (New York Evening-Journal), Bill Cunningham (Boston Post), Roger Batchelder (Boston Globe), Damon Runyon (Universal Service), and Lawrence Perry (AP). Also in the press box was Dudley Nichols of the New York World. Nichols would go on to become a successful screenwriter in Hollywood writing screenplays for films like Bringing Up Baby (1938), Stagecoach (1939), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) and winning an Academy Award for The Informer (1935). On this day he would watch the Galloping Ghost thrill the Big Apple.

    Red has now played four games with the Bears. He was plenty involved in the offense and had played very well on defense. But more importantly he proved to his new teammates that he was a team player. Joey Sternaman recalled the game plan in using Grange.
    “Well, we he [Red] came with the Bears, I was the play caller, and I said to him, ‘Are you interested in doing well for yourself or are you interested in winning ball games?’ After all, he’d been used to an offense down at Illinois that was built solely on opening a hole for him. Everything was geared to that. Well, we had a lot of different things, and we need them in the pros. We had quick opener that would work well with Red, but we also had a lot of deceptive plays that we used. We were not just going to blow open a hole for Red Grange.
    Well, Red was honestly interested in winning games, and, as I found out, he was one of the finest team players around. So, what I did a lot after Red came with us was use him as a decoy. I’d fake handing the ball off to him, and hell, I’d be bootlegging around the other end or off on the other side passing it to one of our ends. We used a lot of deception, and it worked well. And Red took a real beating, especially that first year, but he never complained, just played his best.”

     Red the decoy would take center stage in the entertainment capital of the world. The Bears faced off against a good Giants football team who were on a roll, having won 7 straight NFL games, and outscored their opponents 84-15, with five shutouts. The Bears got off to fast start by establishing a tough running game. With Red being a decoy in the red zone, they scored twice with Joey Sternaman carry the ball over for both scores to take a 12-0 first quarter lead. The Giants cut the lead to 12-7 at the half. In the second half the two defenses played tough. When Red wasn’t in the game chants from the stands of “We Want Grange!” rang throughout the stadium. Finally, in the fourth quarter Red gave the massive crowd what they came to see, a thrill, when he returned an interception (30 yards) down the sidelines for a game clinching touchdown. The Bears left the Polo Grounds with a 19-7 victory. The game ended at 4:25 p.m. as the New York crowd left the stadium with a lasting highlight from the Galloping Ghost. Red played roughly 35 of the 60 minutes. He recalled the game:

    “Although we had won, it was one of the most bruising battles I had ever been in. I especially remember one play when Joe Alexander, the Giants’ center, almost twisted my head off in making a tackle…It was clear we were all beginning to show the wear and tear of our crowded schedule. After that encounter with the Giants, the Bears were no longer able to field a team free of injuries.”

Red Grange, ball carrier, against New York Giants, notice large crowd 
at Polo Grounds.

    Red always remembered the Giants game as one of the most physical games he played in on the barnstorming tour. He would leave the game with numerous bruises and was kicked in the arm by Giants linemen Tommy Tomlin. Whatever money he was able to walk away with he definitely earned it. As for the New York press, they wrote glowingly of pro football and the Galloping Ghost. Allison Danzig, one of the lead sportswriters for the New York Times wrote:

    “New York saw red yesterday; not the red that causes the eye to flame with anger, but the Red who inflames the imagination with the heroic proportions of his deeds on the football field and the glamour that surrounds the most celebrated figure the game has known. For three years New York has heard about Red Grange, read about him, talked about him. Yesterday it saw him.

    To call these 70,000 spectators football followers needs correction. There were thousands in that tremendous assemblage who probably never saw a game before, who did not have the slightest idea of what the proceedings were all about. They knew only that Grange was out there on the field among the twenty-two young warriors clad in moleskins and they wanted to see what were the things he did and how he did them to differentiate him from the twenty-one others and win him such renown.”

    George Trevor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (who went on to be one of the greatest college football writers for the New York Sun) simply wrote:

    “There is an indefinable something about Grange that stamps him as one among many. Babe Ruth has it. Man o’War had it, Jack Dempsey has it. Even while he was being effectively bottled up, Grange looked the part of a master player. Class sticks out all over him.”

    The New York Daily News had full coverage of the game (game recap written by Marshall Hunt) that included a photo spread of five images on the back page under the bold caption of “70,000 See Grange Star.” The great Ford Frick of the New York Evening Journal wrote:

    “Well, Mr. Red Grange has come and gone. So has some $30,000 of good money which was last seen being stuffed into the professional sock of the professional Red Head himself. But it was worth it. National hysteria always is, all the Red Grange hysteria is one of the noblest brand this writer has ever been privileged to witness.

    During the first part of the game the Red Head failed to distinguished himself unduly, and there was considerable jeering. This however turned to cheers as he snatched that final Giants pass out of the air and galloped to a touchdown- and everyone left the field happy and contented.” 

   Frick would be mesmerized by the Galloping Ghost, so much that he would follow the rest of the eastern barnstorming tour for the next week. He would travel with the Bears, writing every day about the going on’s of the tour and its superstar- Red Grange. No pro football or NFL game had ever been covered by the press like the Grange game in New York. Lastly, even the Giants players were impressed by Red. Giants right tackle “Babe” Parnell said, “He’s just about the best backfield man I’ve ever seen play.”  

     The Chicago Tribune reported that Grange earned roughly $30,000 from the gate (from a total gate of $120,000), while Pyle stated to the press that the amount was $36,000. (Grange told Westbrook Pegler amount was $36,000). This was one of the few games that Dutch Sternaman didn’t keep a gate statement. Whatever the total was, you can be sure it was the biggest gate ever for a professional football game.

    Later that night just after 10 p.m. Red agreed to give a speech on New York radio station WEAF to help raise money for the Near East Relief Fund. Transmitted to over a half dozen stations across the country, including St. Louis, Cincinnati, Washington, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, he spoke at length about football. “Football, I am convinced is the best game invented. It demands more than any other game from a player and the rewards of it are spiritual rather than material...I am sure that I am better man for having played this game. The big thing I have won from football, is not the fortunate break which has enabled me to earn certain monetary rewards, but rather the more permanent matter of training in courage, stamina and ability to use mind and muscle more effectively.”

    Yes, Red loved the game of football and everything about it, he always did and always would. But the money he collected in his first ten days as a professional football player would take center stage. His bank account was about to grew even bigger.

Red Grange, close-up, at Polo Grounds against
New York Giants, on Dec. 6, 1925.

NEXT: 

Dec. 8th - Red Grange-Chicago Bears at Washington All-Stars 

OTD: 100th Anniversary Red Grange-Chicago Bears Tour - Philadelphia Game

LOOKING BACK
By Chris Willis, NFL Films

Game Program for Chicago Bears at Frankford Yellow Jackets, Dec. 5, 1925

    After leaving St. Louis the Grange-Bears barnstorming tour arrived at the Broad Street Station in Philadelphia on Friday (Dec. 4^th) morning. After getting settled at the Robert Morris Hotel the team went out to Shibe Park for an hour walk-thru, as Halas wanted “to get the boys acquainted with the mud.” A steady rain would continue through the night and into Saturday. Later that evening Red was invited to attend a show at the Earle Theatre. He brought the entire Bears team with him. As he entered the theatre he was “given a rousing reception.”

    Because of the Sunday blue laws in Pennsylvania the Frankford Yellow Jackets played most of their home games on Saturdays, then would travel to play a road game on Sunday. Because of the potential of a large crowd the Frankford Athletic Association, who operated the team, moved the contest from their home field of Frankford Stadium to the larger Shibe Park- home of the American League’s Philadelphia A’s- with a capacity of nearly 35,000. Led by their player-coach Guy Chamberlin the Yellow Jackets were 11-5 and one of the best teams in the NFL. Tickets were sold at Gimbel’s Department Store, National Ticket Agency, Robin’s Cigar Store and the Capitol Theatre box office. Ads for the game appeared in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin:

 

FOOTBALL TICKETS
SEATS AT $2.50 and $3.50
Red Grange with Chicago Bears
Vs. Frankford Yellow Jackets
NATIONAL TICKET AGENCY
225 So. Broad St.  Xmas Card Store 

Bears-Yellow Jackets football ad in Philly newspaper 

Game Ticket, Dec. 5, 1925 

    Prices ranged from $5.00-$4.00 (field seats); $3.50 (reserved box); and $2.50 (general admission).) The press reported a crowd between 35-36,000, which more than doubled the Yellow Jackets previous high of 15,000 fans. Several hundred “outlaw” spectators sat on rooftops on the northside of Twentieth Street that went along the park. The sold-out crowd was nearly another record for a pro football game matching Red’s debut just nine days earlier. It was here on the east coast that several of the country’s greatest sportswriters joined the barnstorming tour. Chicago beat writers Pegler and MacNamara now sat in the Shibe Park press box with the likes of Richard Vidmer of the New York Times, Marshall Hunt of the New York Daily News, Damon Runyon of Universal Service, and local writers Perry Lewis of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Ross Kaufman of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. Lewis’s preview of the game in the Inquirer stated that “this is the morning of professional football’s greatest day in Philadelphia…In those crowded stands will be thousands who never saw a professional football game before, and they will judge the sport in its entirely by what they see today.”

    Before the game Red jogged out to midfield to greet Frankford captain Guy Chamberlin. The two shook hands. The duo then shook hands with Philadelphia mayor W. Freeland Kendrick as photographers and newsreel cameras shot the moment. Red was also presented a phonograph and a few records including one album that had songs of the University of Illinois (“Hail to the Orange” and “Illinois Loyalty”). “Grange, who is very fond of music, appeared delighted with the gift,” wrote the Daily Illini.

During pre-game Red Grange receives ball from Philly Mayor Kendrick, next to
him is Frankford player-coach Guy Chamberlin. 

     Just as the game started the rain came down throughout the contest making the field a “waterlogged gridiron.” Neither team got off to a fast start on the muddy gridiron. After nine punts the Bears finally mounted a drive. On the first play of the second quarter Red capped a 8-play, 47-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run. Joey Sternaman’s extra point gave the Bears a 7-0 lead. The Yellow Jackets would continue to struggle on offense throwing three interceptions in the first half as the game stayed 7-0 at halftime.

    In the second half the stadium lights were turned on so the wet crowd could get a better look at the action as the Yellow Jackets gave the hometown fans more to cheer than seeing the Galloping Ghost. Midway through the third quarter Hust Stockton completed a pass to Ben Jones who weaved for a 40-yard touchdown. The extra point tied the game up at 7-7. Red, who sat out the third quarter, returned to action in the fourth as the sold-out mob “stood up and bellowed,” for him. He would give the crowd more to cheer about. Late in the game Red completed a 17-yard pass to Johnny Mohardt to put the ball at the Yellow Jackets 36-yard line. Red sprinted for fourteen yards and Mohardt rushed for nineteen to put the ball at the three yard-line. Two plays later Red plowed over for the go ahead score. Leading 14-7 the Bears defense denied the Yellow Jackets on two straight drives forcing five consecutive incomplete passes. It was a hard-fought win for Red and his Bears.

    The local press praised Red. Perry Lewis of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote:

    “He proved it. The ‘He’ we refer to is that Galloping Ghost of the gridiron, Red Grange…Red was in that game just about thirty minutes of the sixty minutes of actual play. But while he was there he enveloped his entire team with an atmosphere of quiet confidence. Without him the Bears played magnificent football, football that appeared to be mechanically perfect, against a machine equally as good. With him in there they DID things. His mere presence appeared to spur them to deeds that otherwise would have been beyond them.”

    After the game Ross Kaufman of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin interviewed Bill Crowell, referee of the game:

    “Don’t think for a minute that those two teams were not in there fighting every minute. If anything, I think Frankford was keyed up higher than Grange’s team. They appeared to take the game more seriously in the pre-game drill, but once those two giant elevens swung into action you could tell they were both keen on winning…Whenever a play went wrong with Grange’s team, he did not hesitate in calling attention to it. ‘You should start quicker or do this, was impressed upon the Chicago Bears by the much discussed Grange.

    Just because Grange did not get loose for any runs of forty or fifty yards the same as when he appeared against Penn on Franklin Field, does not mean that he is not a great player.

I believe Grange might have made a long run in the third period when he started on his dash around right end, had the field been in better condition. As it was he got away for nine yards, his longest of the day. He ran beautifully then.”

    Kaufman finished his article writing, “Red is now in the class with Babe Ruth and the rest of the high salaried professionals. When he delivers, he is a hero and when he fails he is a ‘bust.’” Shortly after the game the team sprinted to the train station wearing their muddy uniforms for their 6 o’clock train to New York. On the ride to the Big Apple, Pyle told Halas, “This tour will make you so wealthy Halas, that next year you’ll be able to afford two sets of uniforms.”

    After a disappointing gate in St. Louis the trip to Philadelphia was much sweeter. The typed-up statement for the Frankford game revealed a paying crowd of 25,408 fans. The total gate was a remarkable $81,069. The breakdown was:

Total Gate Receipts =    $81,069.00

War Tax (possible) =     $7,424.10

20% Park Rental =         $16,213.80

Pyle share (27.5%) =      $17,835.18 (paid by check #3084)

Expenses of Bears =       $2,000

Expenses of Frankford= $2,000

    The Bears received nearly fifty percent of the gate (based on standard NFL Game Contract) while Red-Pyle took home $17,835.18. The pace was now picking up. Starting with the Frankford game the Grange-Bears squad would play five games over the next six days. Dr. Harry March, a front office executive for the New York Giants, was worried about Red’s schedule. “He played Wednesday in St. Louis; he plays Saturday in Philadelphia; he goes to a banquet Saturday night; he plays again Sunday in New York, Tuesday in Washington, and Wednesday in Boston. If he doesn’t slow up, he’ll blow up. This isn’t baseball.”

    The main organizers of the tour- Pyle, Coolley and Moore- were looking out for Red. Or more likely themselves. As the tour marched on Westbrook Pegler started to notice the trio. He called Pyle “the manager” and Coolley “the deputy manager,” but no mention of what he called Moore. Pegler wrote, “Mr. Pyle is concerned with the big affairs of getting the money and Doc Coolley with seeing that none of it gets away from them at the turnstiles.” “It’s not true that we are cutting our share down the middle,” said Pyle to Pegler. “Red gets more than I do.” Which was true, Red got more than Pyle.

    The Bears’ train arrived in New York on Saturday night just in time for Red to attend the All-American Team Football Banquet sponsored by the New York Sun. Red was selected as one of the newspapers first team All-American backfield players along with Benny Friedman of Michigan, Eddie Tryon of Colgate and Andy Oberlander of Dartmouth. After a busy day of playing football in Philadelphia and seeing the night life of New York, Red finally went to sleep in his bed at the Astor Hotel. In a few hours he would have to play his best game in front of the biggest crowd to ever see a pro football game in the entertainment capital of the world. He had to be at his best.

NEXT: 

Dec. 6th - Red Grange-Chicago Bears at New York Giants (Polo Grounds) 

OTD 100th Anniversary Red Grange-Bears Tour - St. Louis Game

 LOOKING BACK
By Chris Willis, NFL Films

Red Grange at Cubs Park, Nov. 1925, Chicago Bears

     After playing two games in Chicago against the Cardinals (Thanksgiving Day) and the Columbus Tigers (Sun. Nov. 29^th) Red Grange and the Chicago Bears were ready to hit the road. The barnstorming tour was just getting started with a trip to St. Louis.

    The St. Louis team was organized by Art Donnelly, a local mortician and sports promoter, who helped fellow promoter Bud Yates with the $2,000 guarantee (some news reports say it was $5,000) to get Red and the Bears to come to St. Louis. Because of the hastily put together game the squad was mostly comprised of local talent who played at St. Louis University. Yates was able to attract former Cornell All-American halfback Eddie Kaw, former Michigan star center Ernie Vick and current Detroit Panthers player-coach Jimmy Conzelman (who had starred at S.L.U.) to play for St. Louis. They only had a week to get ready.

Bud Yates, St. Louis Sports Promoter

    The Bears arrived the evening before the game at Union Station in St. Louis just after 6:00 p.m. local time, greeted by several hundred fans and the press. Conzelman also showed up to greet his former teammates with the Staleys, Halas and Sternaman, as well as meet Red for the first time. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch took a photo of the Galloping Ghost and Conzelman smiling together.

     The team was taken to the Coronado Hotel where they stayed the night. At the hotel Red gave an interview to the St. Louis Star and Times. The paper called Red “quiet and assuming,” while asking him about several topics that included his opinion of the pro game compared to the college game.

    “I like it…the professional game is different. Unhampered by the overwhelming college insensitive, the players concentrate on straight football, with the result that the player and spectator are much better pleased. Please understand, this is no disparagement of the college spirt or the very natural and healthy desire to win for his alma mater. It is a question of good football and the colleges certainly seem to inspire players to win at all and any cost.” 

      The one thing Red enjoyed about being a pro football player was that he could just concentrate on football, twenty-four hours a day- no classes, no teachers, no work, etc. The game was played on a Wednesday afternoon at Sportsman’s Park- home of the baseball’s Browns and Cardinals- on the city’s northside. Tickets were sold at the ballpark and Leacock’s, the city’s leading sporting goods stores for the past twenty-five years. Prices were set at: $4.40 (box seats); $3.20 (grandstands) and $2.20 (bleachers and pavilion) plus tax. Ads in the St. Louis Star and Times read:

“RED GRANGE

At Sportsman’s Park

Wednesday, Dec. 2

Tickets at Leacock’s (10^th and Locust); and Sportsman’s Park.”

Nov. 30, 1925: Football Game Ad St. Louis Star 

    No mention in the ad of the Chicago Bears or the Donnelly’s All-Stars, just the Galloping Ghost. “For those games left on the Chicago Bears schedule the posters read ‘See the Chicago Bears with Red Grange’” recalled Grange’s friend from Wheaton “Beans” DeWolf in a 1987 interview. “But when they began the barnstorming trip, the posters were changed to read ‘See Red Grange with the Chicago Bears.”

    Kickoff was set for 2:30 p.m. Local sportswriters John Alexander of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Ted Drewes of the St. Louis Star and Times joined the Chicago writers in the press box. The press reported 8,000 fans braved the 40-degree “cold” afternoon contest. Pyle was disappointed in the crowd.

   As for the game it was a lopsided affair. With only a few days of practice the Donnelly’s (St. Louis) All-Stars looked more like duds. Red gave the small crowd plenty to cheer for while playing a little more than a half of football. On the first two drives of the game the redhead scored touchdowns. Bears fullback Earl Britton would make his professional debut by replacing Dutch Sternaman in the second quarter. The scoring continued in that quarter with another score by Red, as the Bears took a 27-6 halftime lead. In the fourth quarter Red scored his fourth touchdown of the game as the Bears cruised to an easy 39-6 victory. The Chicago American wrote Red “was in great form and ran wild early in the game.” Alexander of the Post-Dispatch wrote:

   “It is hard to describe that action. Essentially, it seems to be the ability to make tacklers miss him completely without forcing him to lose headway and to shake them loose once they catch hold…One such run as yesterday’s is worth the price of admission. One does not often see a player who can run into an apparently muddle of enemies and shake them from his shoes like so much mud. Grange does that. His footwork is deft and artful and when he breaks loose in an open field, he resembles nothing so as Eliza skipping over the ice floes with the bloodhounds baying at her heels and a child tucked under one arm, changing pace and varying her course slightly each successive hop.”

Red was a success on the field this time, albeit against an inferior team, but it was the first time he was a failure at the box office. Shortly after the game the gate receipts “officially” came out. Promoter Yates announced the paid attendance at 5,032 with a total gate receipt of $13,657. Based on the report, the Grange-Pyle-Bears got $7,834 while the local team got $1,547. Irving Vaughn of the Chicago Tribune was more cynical, writing, “The highly polished Grange did his act to the extent of four touchdowns, and it was to see him in his traveling togs that 8,000 people paid in the neighborhood of $20,000, so nobody was gypped.”

      The Bears left St. Louis early Thursday morning (Dec. 3^rd) around 9 a.m. to head to Philadelphia to play the NFL’s Frankford Yellow Jackets. Dutch Sternaman paid $1,183.36 for 27 train fares that included 20 players plus Pyle, Coolley, Lotshaw, and Harry MacNamara of the Chicago Herald-Examiner. On the train headed east the Bears passed their time playing cards. Frank Hanny and Jim McMillian held court at the card table, while Johnny Mohardt “lectured Red and George Trafton in the observation car on the human anatomy.” After his football career ended Mohardt would go on to become a doctor and one of Chicago’s leading brain specialists.

     The tour was now headed east.

 

Chicago Bears Railroad Expense Sheet, St. Louis to
Philly (Pro Football Hall of Fame) 

NEXT:

Dec. 5^th Grange-Bears at Frankford Yellow Jackets (Philadelphia)