Professional football was pretty much on life support throughout the 1920s. Baseball, college football, boxing, golf, even horse racing held the sporting interest of the nation. Pro football was a carnival act. A curiosity at best. The young NFL needed a major gate attraction. On Thanksgiving Day 1925, they got one. Red Grange.
Just days after his final game at Illinois, Grange signed with the Chicago Bears. He signed in time to take the field against the Chicago Cardinals on Thanksgiving Day. The 36,000 that packed Wrigley Field that day was the largest crowd in pro football history.
From Richard Whittingham's terrific book What a Game They Played:
Red Grange made his pro football debut on Thanksgiving Day 1925, playing for the Chicago Bears against their crosstown rival, the Chicago Cardinals. The game ended in a scoreless tie. Grange not only was held to 36 yards rushing but he was unable to exercise one of his other notorious threats, returning punts.
The Cardinals' triple-threat tailback Paddy Driscoll punted many times that day, but he always kept it away from Grange, kicking either to Joey Sternaman or out of bounds. "Kicking to Grange," Driscoll said, "is like grooving one to Babe Ruth."
After the game was over, and Grange had made his uneventful debut, Driscoll stopped at the seats behind the Cardinal bench to talk to his wife. As the other players headed to the lockerroom, there was a lot of booing. "I hate to hear the fans boo a young man like Grange," Driscoll said, "it wasn't his fault he couldn't break one today."
"Don't feel sorry for Grange," his wife said. "It's you they're booing."
Everyone wanted to see Grange run. Even Cardinals fans.
The NFL might have been born in the fall of 1920 but the young league took it's first real breath on Thanksgiving Day 1925.
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!
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