By Darin 
A century ago, the NFL was barely staying afloat. Small-town franchises that the league was founded on were falling off one by one, and the big cities were not supporting the teams in the most lucrative way. Things were about to change.
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The Most Important Tie in NFL History
In 1925, professional football was a fledgling sport, struggling for legitimacy against the wildly popular college game. That all changed on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1925, when the biggest star in America, Harold “Red” Grange, stepped onto the field for his professional debut with the Chicago Bears against the cross-town rival Chicago Cardinals.
Grange, fresh off an iconic career at the University of Illinois where he earned the nickname “The Galloping Ghost,” signed a lucrative contract just days after his final collegiate game. The excitement was unprecedented. A massive crowd, estimated between 36,000 and 40,000 fans, packed into Wrigley Field—the largest attendance for a professional football game in history up to that point. The gate receipts alone instantly validated the fledgling National Football League (NFL).
More Than Just a Game
Despite the defensive battle ending in a scoreless 0-0 tie, Grange lived up to the hype in other ways. Fans, who famously booed whenever the play wasn’t directed his way, saw him showcase his all-around talent. Grange amassed 92 yards from scrimmage and added 56 yards on punt returns. He also displayed his defensive skill, breaking up the Cardinals’ biggest scoring threat with a crucial interception deep in Bears territory.
His immediate star power was a turning point for the NFL. While the Bears and Cardinals battled, Grange’s agent, C.C. “Cash and Carry” Pyle, leveraged the popularity into an immediate, grueling barnstorming tour. Over the next few weeks, Grange played eight games in 12 days, drawing hundreds of thousands of fans from coast to coast, including an unheard-of 70,000 spectators at the Polo Grounds in New York.
The Star Who Saved the League
Red Grange‘s debut game itself was a defensive deadlock, but its impact was explosive. It proved that professional football could be a national spectator sport and a viable business. By transforming the Chicago Bears from a team that often struggled for gate money into the hottest ticket in the country, Grange single-handedly launched the NFL into the national spotlight, securing its future as a dominant American sport.