Other Free Encyclopedias :: Famous Sports Stars :: Famous Sports Stars Go-Ho :: Harold "Red" Grange Biography - All-around Athlete, Coaxed To The Gridiron, Fateful Michigan Game, Chronology, Goes Out In Style - SELECTED WRITINGS BY GRANGE:

Harold "Red" Grange - All-around Athlete

Grange spent his youth in Wheaton, Illinois, just outside Chicago. His mother died when he was five, and he was raised by his father, Lyle, a foreman for a lumber company who later switched professions and eventually became Wheaton's chief of police. Grange demonstrated a natural athletic ability, and at Wheaton High School he earned 16 varsity letters, in football, baseball, basketball and track. In addition to making his mark on the grid-iron—he scored seventy-five touchdowns and 532

Harold "Red" Grange

points during his high-school career—he was a four-time sprint champion.

Grange built up strength and endurance during his summer job working for an icehouse, where he delivered blocks of ice door-to-door for $37.50 a week. Despite other job offers, Grange returned to this job even during his college years. Photographs of Grange at work published nationally earned him the nickname "The Wheaton Iceman."

User Comments Add a comment…