harold edward "red" grange (june 13, 1903 – january 28, 1991) was an american football halfback and actor that played in the national football league (nfl) for 9 seasons. he was nicknamed "the galloping ghost" from a chicago sportswriter named warren brown. he played in the nfl for 3 teams during his professional career the chicago bears in 1925 and again from 1929-1934 and also played for the new york yankees in 1926 and 1927. he played college football at the university of illinois at urbana-champaign and his jersey number #77 is retired by the university and is also retired by the chicago bears. grange also acted in two silent movies; one minute to play in 1926 and racing romeo in 1927. he is inducted into the college and pro football hall of fame and in 2008 espn named him the greatest college football player of all time. grange never fumbled the football during his nfl career.