This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 12/10/2001.
Harold "Red" Grange was football's first superstar and its greatest showman. A 3-time All-American halfback and quarterback at Illinois from 1923 to 1925, Grange won the moniker "The Galloping Ghost" after notching 4 TDs and 262 yards within 12 minutes in a game against Michigan. He rumbled for 3,367 yards and 31 TDs for Illinois and his immense appeal carried over when he turned pro, helping to make a success out of the fledgling NFL. Joining the Chicago Bears, No. 77 drew overflow crowds that led owner George Halas to take his team on barnstorming tours in addition to its league games. Grange, rebuffed by Halas when he tried to buy a piece of the Bears, played for the New York (football) Yankees for 2 seasons, but returned and later led the Bears to the NFL title in 1933. The battered and scarred helmet, which may have earned a would-be tackler a bounty for knocking off the Ghost's head, has no logos or numbers, nor does it need any. It is a symbol of a time when football was played by real men and of a man who played it better than anyone. It comes with a letter of authenticity from the daughter of the person who obtained the helmet from Grange's onetime Bears teammate Dutch Vick.