The league lasted just one year before shutting down and the Yankees were assimilated into the NFL. Pyle formed the American Football League in 1926, with Grange playing for the Yankees. When his rookie contract expired, he and agent C. Shortly after his final college game in 1925, Grange joined the Bears and the NFL, embarking on a barnstorming tour to raise the league's attention across the country. In 2008, he was named the best college football player of all time by ESPN, and in 2011, he was named the Greatest Big Ten Icon by the Big Ten Network. The same year, Grange became the first recipient of the Chicago Tribune Silver Football award as the Big Ten Conference's most valuable player. He was the only consensus All-American running back in 1924 who was not a member of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame. In college, Grange was a three-time consensus All-American and led his team to a national championship in 1923. His signing with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League (NFL). Harold Edward " Red" Grange (J– January 28, 1991), nicknamed " The Galloping Ghost", was an American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and the short-lived New York Yankees. My add, God Bless America, all the good and wonderful people who kept and continue to keep her Free.No regular season or postseason appearances I think that it is amazing how the "media" chooses our "heros" these days. Please forward this email to everyone you know. Let's give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our own quiet way. No wall to wall back to back 24x7 news coverage. Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and who still care is enough to make an old man very happy." His eyes were filling up as he said it.Īnd mine are brimming up now as I write this. When Shifty cameįorward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I'd take his in coach. I sent the flight attendant back to get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in Coach while I was in First Class. Was in my throat and I didn't know what to say. And it 's real sad because, these days, so few of the guys are left, and those that are, lots of them can't make the trip." My heart I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France, and he said "Yes. Īnd then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of D-Day. I told him "yes, I know exactly where Normandy is, and I know what D-Day was." At that point he said "I also made a second jump into Holland, into Arnhem." I was standing with a genuine war hero. do you know where Normandy is?" At this point my heart stopped. " at which point my heart skipped.Īt that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5 training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy. Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so,Īnd was in until sometime in 1945. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served,Īnd how many jumps he made. He said quietly that he had been in the 101st. Making conversation, I asked him if he d been in the 101st Airborne or if his son was serving. I offered to help, assured him that he wasĪt the right gate, and noticed the " Screaming Eagle," the symbol of the 101st Airborne, on his hat. I just saw an elderly gentleman having trouble reading his ticket. I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. His character appears in all 10 episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them. If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Infantry. We 're hearing a lot today about big splashy memorial services.ĭarrell "Shifty" Powers.
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