Game Poster: The Return of the Galloping Ghost

A new feature has (likely) been added to TCR. Each week I'll try to make a poster/picture for the upcoming game.

This week: An attempt to recreate some 1920's horror movie poster.

..And also a little history lesson. For those who're college football illiterate or new to Illini fandom, Harold "Red" Grange was a running back for the Fighting Illini some 90 years ago.

He was good.

So good that ESPN has ranked him as the best player in college football history.

So good that there's a scary/ugly manikin of him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

So good that Grantland Rice, one of the champions of sports journalism, wrote two poems about him.

There are shapes now moving,
Two Ghosts that drift and glide,
And which of them to tackle
Each rival must decide.
They shift with spectral swiftness
Across the swarded range,
And one of them's a shadow,
And one of them is Grange

The other:

A streak of fire, a breath of flame
Eluding all who reach and clutch;
A gray ghost thrown into the game
That rival hands may never touch;
A rubber bounding, blasting soul
Whose destination is the goal -
Red Grange of Illinois!

A lot of people believe that Rice was the one who game Grange his nickname, but it was actually Chicago sportswriter Warren Brown who came up with the moniker.

At homecoming this year, the University of Illinois will celebrate the 90th anniversary of Grange destroying the Michigan Wolverines at homecoming 1924.

(For one time only I will make the confession: I'm not an expert or professional or wizard. I drew this thing on my iPad. It took a long time and my fingers hurt. Perseverance. K, enough whining.)

Hint at next week's: Tim Beckman goes on an adventure!

You can follow Aaron Rench on Twitter at @ARench89. Follow The Champaign Room on Twitter at @Champaign_ Room and Like us on Facebook.