Red Grange Barnstorming Tour Pivotal to League
With the billions of dollars generated by the NFL every year and the spectacle of Super Bowl LVIII about to go on display in Las Vegas, it's easy to forget how none of it would have been possible without one player and one team.
SI.com reminds everyone with its posting of the 50 most influential NFL teams of all time.
Actually, it's probably safe to say the 1925 Chicago Bears should rank a little higher than 37th overall on SI's list considering their impact on how the NFL evolved.
If not for what George Halas decided to do then, pro football could have remained behind baseball, college football, boxing, horse racing, tennis, golf and wrestling in popularity during the 1920s.
The fledging league couldn't even decide on a champion in 1925, as the Pottsville Maroons had their title-clinching win over the Chicago Cardinals taken away for disobeying a mandate not to play a postseason exhibition game against barnstorming Notre Dame all-stars in Philadelphia.
SI.COM NAMES THE NFL'S MOST INFLUENTIAL TEAMS
Everything changed, though, when Halas signed the "Wheaton Ice Man," aka the "Galloping Ghost" of Illinois, halfback Red Grange. Grange had gained 2,071 yards rushing and threw for 575 yards in college, and once ran for 402 yards and four touchdowns against Michigan in a 39-14 Illinois win.
The young league suddenly generated fan interest nationwide with the signing. The most electrifying player in college football went on a barnstorming tour with the Bears at a time when the best college players most often didn't turn pro. Soon Grange was a celebrity, hob-knobbing with Hollywood types and star athletes from other sports.
Halas and his team got half of the gate receipts and Grange and his manager, C.C. Pyle, received the other half. First Grange and Pyle wanted two-thirds of the receipts but Halas said they were talked out of this.
The Bears played eight games in 12 days on the tour, most of them league games. Twice they played without a day of rest between games and often were playing in dirty uniforms.
Before they even left on this tour, Grange had to play in two NFL games on Thanksgiving against the Cardinals and the Columbus Tigers. Grange ran for 140 yards against the Tigers and it helped generate more excitement for the tour.
A team of 16 Bears took a train to St. Louis for an exhibition game against a pick-up team, then went by train to Philadelphia for a league game at Shibe Park with Frankford, and then the key game of the trip in the Polo Grounds against the Giants. It was a 19-7 Bears win before an unheard-of crowd for the NFL of 73,000.
Then they went by train to Washington. Halas and Grange visited the White House and were introduced to President Calvin Coolidge. The nation's leader famously said, in all seriousness after being told they were George Halas and Red Grange of the Chicago Bears: "How are you young gentlemen. I have always admired animal acts."
It properly characterized where the NFL ranked in the nation's consciousness at the time.
Babe Ruth came to their hotel to talk to Grange. Halas, in his autobiography Halas by Halas, said the Bambino gave Grange advice: " 'Get the dough while the getting is good and don't pick up too many meal checks.' "
Halas said Grange collected two checks from the barnstorming tour for $50,000 each and another for $100,000 at tour's end.
The 12-day, eight-game barnstorming tour ended with the Bears beat up and losing shutouts in league games at Detroit to the Panthers and in Chicago to the Giants.
BEARS BARNSTORMERS AMONG NFL'S MOST INFLUENTIAL TEAMS
Counting the two NFL games played before the trip with Grange on the roster, they had played 10 games in 19 days, seven of them league games and three exhibitions.
Then they went on another barnstorming tour of exhibitions to Florida at the end of December and into January, traveling across the south to New Orleans and then to the West Coast.
Halas put together a bigger team with 30 players for that leg of the tour, so they weren't as exhausted. Much of the time they were playing pick-up teams of pro players or former college players. They were teams called the California Tigers or the Tampa Cardinals, which Halas said was a team comprised largely of the NFL's Rock Island Independents.
By the time the second part of the tour ended, the Bears had played 30 games since September. Halas estimated 400,000 people paid to see Grange with the Bears. The Bears turned a larger profit that year for the first time: $14,657.01.
After Grange had signed and more money came into the league, fans took note. Crowds for games became larger and media attention grew.
The Associated Press began carrying scores and statistics from all games on the wire for the 1926 season and it generated more interest.
The NFL was on a path toward its eventual status as America's game as a result of the 1925 Chicago Bears and Red Grange.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
