Photo Profile: Red Grange

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In the early 1920s, George Halas was desperately seeking a special gate attraction to help draw fans for his Chicago Bears and the National Football League. University of Illinois running back Harold "Red" Grange was the answer.

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Grange delivered huge blocks of ice during his college days earning him the nickname "The Wheaton Iceman."

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On Thanksgiving Day, 1925, just 10 days after Grange's last college game, 36,600 filled Wrigley Field to see Red's pro debut against the Chicago Cardinals.

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Grange embarked on an expansive “barnstorming tour” following the 1925 NFL season, playing all over the country and winning tens of thousands of new fans for pro football.

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Grange and the Bears ownership couldn’t agree on terms for the 1926 season, so he migrated to the rival American Football League and played for a team in New York called the Yankees.

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Halas invited Grange back to the Bears in 1929 and he remained with them through the 1934 season.

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Grange carries the ball in a game for the New York Yankees in 1926.

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Grange was a member of the charter class of enshrinees inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.