Good Book | Red Grange and the Rise of Modern Football (Sport and Society)

When Humility Still Mattered | Red Grange and the Rise of Modern Football (Sport and Society) | John M. Carroll

books:


	• Red Grange and the Rise of Modern Football (Sport and Society) John M. Carroll University of Illinois Press, 1999 - 296 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

Red Grange is Number One!

My father always talked about Red Grange. I never really knew who he was. This book brings everything into perspective. Mr. Carroll captures the essence of Red Grange, but more than that, he makes clear why Grange was the most important college player of this century and how he created the momentum which led to the explosion of pro football

Good Book

It was interesting to read about the early days of college football and the origins of some of the rules we have now about kids leaving early. The book is a little dry though - kind of like reading a history textbook at times.

for more information click here

When Humility Still Mattered

This book does a great job of giving interesting detail and thoughtful perspective so you can see how an individual fit into the times and how the events of the single life mirrored the larger developments in society. You learn a lot about football, about men of that era and what character traits they valued, and about the role of the media and it's use of celebrity to create an audience. I enjoyed this so much I bought another Carroll book on a different early football hero - Fritz Pollard - and that is just as informative and insightful.

for more information click here

Engaging story of pioneer on, off the field

This is a readable, well-researched book. Carroll tells how Grange rose to become one of America's first true superstars and how he left school early to join the then-disrespected ranks of pro football. While scholarly, a feeling for a truly humble man shines through.

for more information click here

Before the Super Bowl, before "Monday Night Football," even before the NFL, there was Red Grange. Catapulted into the public eye in 1924 by scoring four touchdowns in twelve minutes for the University of Illinois, the 'Galloping Ghost' went on to a trailblazing career as a professional player, Hollywood football idol, and broadcaster. He ranked with Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey in the 1920s as the most heralded figures in America's 'golden age of sport', and when "Sports Illustrated" did a special issue in 1991 on the greatest moments in sports, Grange was selected for the cover. Grange's star rose in tandem with that of the sport itself. His spectacular performance as a college player coincided with football's evolution into a rallying point of university life, undergirded by post-World War I money, cars, roads, stadiums, and mass media.With a natural talent and down-home image that helped legitimize professional football, Grange became one of the first athlete-heroes and the first major sports figure to serve as a play-by-play broadcast commentator. John Carroll depicts the career of this softspoken pioneer who helped lift pro football above its reputation as 'a dirty little business run by rogues and bargain-basement entrepreneurs'. A reluctant celebrity and folk hero, Red Grange stood throughout his life as a symbol of older, rural American values: an unpretentious self-made individual making a mark in a society increasingly controlled by machines, vast corporations, and stifling bureaucracies. His story is an essential element in understanding football's central place in American culture.

for more information click here