Harold "Red" Grange
Wheaton Community High School
1918-1922
Baseball, Basketball, Football, Track & Field

2009 Hall of Fame Inductee

Harold “Red” Grange needs no introduction to most sports fans. While many of his earned and achieved accolades come from football, at Wheaton High School, Red was an incredible all-around athlete. A man for all seasons, Grange played football in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball and track in the spring. As mentioned earlier Red’s athletic prowess was not limited to the gridiron as he won 4 individual state titles in track and field and he always proclaimed baseball as his favorite sport. Upon graduating in 1922, Red had earned 16 varsity letters during his years at Wheaton High School.

Red Grange continued his athletic exploits at the University of Illinois and with the Chicago Bears. Best known for his 4 touchdowns on 262 yards in the first 12 minutes of the U of I game versus arch rival University of Michigan, Grange was immortalized in a poem by Grantland Rice as “the Galloping Ghost.” ESPN went on to name him the greatest college football player in history. Known by many nick names, Grange was also known as the “Wheaton Iceman” for his summer job as a delivery boy for Thompson Ice Company. Red Grange was one of the first sports figures to hold true celebrity status as the best athlete of his time and as a star of silent movies.

Wheaton has never lost their respect for Red. His name continues to live on at Wheaton Warrenville South as our outdoor multi-use stadium is named in his honor and the newest classroom wing completed in 2004 was aptly named Grange Hallway. The football team also gives out the Red Grange Award to the most valuable player and, although his number 77 is not retired, it is prominently displayed in the black paw on every football player’s helmet. Every spring in the stadium named for him, the boys track & field team hosts and competes in the “Red” Grange invitational which amasses some of the best teams and track and field athletes in the state of Illinois.

In the end, one of his greatest accomplishments came when Sports Illustrated featured him on the cover of its “Yesterday’s Heroes” issue as “An Original Superstar” mainly because of his strength of character and the fact that he was a better person than he was football player!

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