Red Grange (1903-1991) made football history as one of the most remarkable amateur and professional gridiron athletes of all. He was called "The Galloping Ghost," and it was his presence that brought pro football from the sandlots to the big time.

Harold Edward "Red" Grange was born on June 13, 1903 in Forksville, a village of about 200 people in an area of Pennsylvania lumber camps. He was the third child of Sadie and Lyle Grange, a lumber camp foreman. Grange was only five years old when his mother died. A few months later the family moved to Wheaton, Illinois, the home of his father's family. Grange's father opened a moving business. For a number of years, the Grange family lived with relatives until they could finally afford a home of their own. The main recreation of Grange and his friends was playing football in vacant lots around town, and basketball...