We see red ...

Once upon a Saturday afternoon in October 1926, the University of Illinois football coach started a young sophomore at halfback, and the young man did an astonishing thing: He made a new sport out of an old sport.

We exaggerate a little. Not a new sport, but a different sport.

It was the way Red Grange ran with the football. His high, springy stride was beautiful to watch and he could do all kinds of nice things with it. Cover a lot of ground, change direction, or slip tackles.

He ran up all kinds of yardage and eye-boggling touchdowns, and before he graduated three years later, every sport fan in America knew his number (77). They probably still do 80 years later.

The other thing he did just a year after graduating college was put professional football on the map. He and a promoter put together their own team and began barnstorming all over the land. It was the making of professional football, American style.

Mind you, we said making. It took exactly 32 years for the product to be finished. That was the season (1958) of the famous NFL Championship Game between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts. It was a spectacular game and when it was all done, professional football went on to rank with baseball in popularity.