INTERVIEWS OF THE CENTURY - HAROLD RED GRANGE
INTERVIEWS OF THE CENTURY - HAROLD RED GRANGE
INTERVIEWS OF THE CENTURY - HAROLD RED GRANGE Harold "Red" Grange. Red is a famous former football player for the University of Illinois and Chicago Bears who became a professional insurance salesman. Union Station, Chicago, Illinois. Interviewer - We have one of the great football players of all time and an old friend of mine, as our guest on The Century Today, today, Red Grange the immortal #77 of the University of Illinois. Red, your looking fit, how s the insurance business? Red - Well its pretty good Bob. I m very happy you asked me that. It s going along. I don t do much individual business, most of mine is with companies and it isn t very, very much. It stays the same way. Interviewer - Well I know you still have retained your great interest in football through the years, having had the pleasure of working with you in the last few years on the college games. And I know also you do a lot of work on the pro games. In fact you worked on television didn t you last fall and Red - Yes that s right, Bob. I get quite a kick out of it. I kind of like to mix in a little technical football with the play by play and it s been a lot of fun. And it s been a lot of fun working with you too. Interviewer - Red, how about the game of football? How has it changed? Has it changed an awful lot through the years since you been playing? Red - I don t believe so, Bob. In fact let s go back to 1930. In 1930 Ralph Jones took over the coaching of the Bears. And Ralph Jones is the fella that installed this modern T Formation, as we know it today. I think it s all copied from the Bears, Bob. And he did three things with the old T - he widened his halfbacks, he put a man in motion and he cut his ends off of the tackle about a yard. And that the modern T Formation. Why, they run the same plays today we ran in 30, 31, and 32, Bob. I think the big change in football however has been on defense. Well say 20 - 25 years ago, you would use one defense in the whole ball game, but today, well the Bears use 10 - 11 - 12 defenses in a game. And I suppose most of the pro teams do. And it s on defense, I think. Interviewer - Red, what is the advantage of the offense that seems to be coming to the forefront so much lately, and that is the Split T? Red - Well the Split T, more or less, is just the widening of your guards and tackles and ends, Bob. And I think the big advantage is that it opens up the defense. There are more holes back in the defense and of course if the blocking works out right, why you can probably gain ground from those holes, but it don t always work that way. I remember, when was it? A year ago, in Chicago, well a couple of years ago they used the Split T in an All-Star game, and the Eagles murdered them. You remember that? Because they played in the gap there, and they shoot that gap and, it was a bad afternoon for the Split T. I don t think it well it don t depend too much on the offense you use, it s the kind of ball players you have, Bob. If you don t have guys that can block and tackle you re not going anyplace. I don t care about what kind of formation you use. Interviewer - Red, what about the famous Little Dutch Man , Bob Zuppke, what did he go for in the way of offense? Red - Well, Bob use to claim that he would set up the offense according to the kind of ball players he had, Bob. When I was down there we used the Single Wing Back, but he used the T the year before I came down, in fact Bob said he used this modern T Formation back in 1908 at Oak Park High School in Chicago. And he said that he received so much mail from the fans stating how old fashioned it was, that he had to go back to the Single Wing Back. But Zupp was a great fella to get a team up, and I think that s the test of a great coach. Many fellas know enough football, but a fella that can get them up, he is the kind of a coach. A coach like Dolby and Rockney and Stag and Zupp, and all those old timers used to be. Of course we have a lot of them today too. I remember a little story Bob, to show you how Zupp could get his team up, I told you this once before, but this happened before I played for Zupp over at Columbus at Ohio State. And he was telling them in the dressing room, he said, Now boys I want you to go out that door, when I open it, just like you own this football field. There s 80 thousand people out there and I want you to storm out of here. Take possession of this field, take it over . And he got them all keyed up, and he pulled the door open, and he pulled the wrong door, and they all went out that door right in to the swimming tank. He d opened the door to the pool. He swears that s a true story, I don t know. Interviewer - Red, that s a wonderful story, and it s grand to see you looking so well. I certainly hope you enjoy your trip to New York next week. I hope you find insurance business there, very, very good. Red - Thanks Bob. Nice to see you again Bob. Interviewer - That was one of the great football players of all time, the immortal #77 of the University of Illinois, Red Grange.