Halas was cool like that -- Margaritaville NFL Forum

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Date Posted: 11:17:45 11/15/13 Fri
Author: Bush>Forte
Author Host/IP: 65.129.215.166
Subject: Halas was cool like that
In reply to: Buc2 's message, "Did you know...?" on 08:40:17 11/15/13 Fri

>The first professional football game ever played in
>Tampa was the Chicago Bears vs Tampa Cardinals in
>1926.
>
>THE FIRST PRO GAME IN TAMPA
>The first professional football game in the Tampa bay
>area was between the Chicago Bears and the Tampa
>Cardinals. The game was played at Plant Field on
>January 1, 1926. The Bears were led by rookie Harold
>�Red� Grange and the Cardinals were a pickup team put
>together by Jim Thorpe. The game itself was billed as
>a clash of old vs. new, with Grange, the rising star,
>taking on Thorpe, the aging legend. Read about Red
>Grange and more about this game.
>
>Plant Field was the first large spectator sports
>facility in the area. It was built in 1889 by Henry B.
>Plant across the Hillsborough River from Tampa as part
>of his Tampa Bay Hotel resort. As the only facility of
>its kind in Central Florida, Plant Field hosted a wide
>variety of events, including auto and horse racing;
>pro, college, and high school football; and large
>political events. It was also the long-time location
>of the Florida State Fair, and the route of the
>Gasparilla parade would end on Plant Field's track
>while the fair was in session.
>
>

>Red Grange and his "Chicago Bears" pose
>at Plant Field the day before the game.
>
> >src=http://www.tampapix.com/Granges-Bears-Trounce-Tampa
>.jpg>
>Jan. 2, 1926 article in the Milwaukee
>Sentinel
>
>Mr. Grange attracted quite a bit of attention while in
>town. Here he is getting a speeding ticket in Temple
>Terrace. He was at the Temple Terrace Country Club on
>January 3, 1926, for an event to kick off the winter
>golf season. The match featured British Open champ Jim
>Barnes paired with future U.S. Open winner Johnny
>Farrell against Gordon Gibbons, the amateur champion
>of Florida, and Lawrence Sherill, the amateur champion
>of Tampa.
>
> >src=http://www.tampapix.com/red-grange-temple-terrace-1
>.jpg>
>
>After leaving the Temple Terrace Country Club, a
>Packard automobile driven by Grange exceeded the
>posted speed limit while en route to an orange grove.
>A motorcycle cop pulled over the luxury vehicle, whose
>occupants included Barnes and Farrell, as well as
>Olympic silver medal-winning swimmer Helen Wainwright,
>and the owner of the vehicle, Joe Mickler. A
>photographer who had just finished snapping photos of
>the athletes came upon the scene and took one final
>image for posterity. Grange would leave Tampa with
>more than just a traffic ticket, however, as he also
>purchased $15,000 worth of property on the Forest
>Hills Golf and Country Club, the present-day site of
>the Babe Zaharias Country Club.

He'd play anyone, anywhere, at any time, for the right price, of course. Pro football wasn't taken seriously back then so he wanted to show the country that it was worth the price of admission. A chance to show off his superstar, the Galloping Ghost, vs a team with Jim Thorpe on it? In a stadium of that size? I'll bet he considered it for all of 2 seconds before packing the train & heading South.

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Re: Halas was cool like that -- Buc2, 12:38:19 11/15/13 Fri