ABSTRACT
From the fall of 1923 through the fall of 1925, the flickering, elusive figure of a football player darted across moving picture screens around the nation, cutting deftly past defender after defender, scoring touchdown after touchdown after touchdown. Sports had become a staple feature of American newsreels, and University of Illinois tailback Red Grange, dubbed the 'Galloping Ghost', quickly became one of its star performers. Grange's rise to stardom illustrated the many in roads that sports made into American culture in the early decades of the twentieth century. Although Grange came from modest circumstances, he found plenty of outlets for his athletic talent. Competing for Wheaton High, in Wheaton, Illinois, Grange became the Illinois sprints and hurdles champion. Grange's opportunities were created by tremendous growth in sports at all levels of American society, from the smallest communities to the highest reaches of national popular culture.
