Legendary football star Harold “Red” Grange once played in a game in Claremont and showed that even the best efforts by a gang of Pomona College players couldn’t slow him down.
It was all part of filming a Hollywood movie featuring Grange, who starred at the University of Illinois and then as a pro in the early years of the National Football League. In 2008, ESPN named him the greatest college football player ever. He was so good he had two nicknames — the “Galloping Ghost” and the “Wheaton Iceman.”
The red-haired Grange arrived in Claremont on June 19, 1926, for the filming of game scenes for the silent movie, “One Minute to Play.” Director Sam Wood was justified in his belief that perhaps 5,000 football and movie fans would voluntarily show up to serve as spectators and background for the filming, reported the Pomona Progress.
“Special (Pacific Electric) trains brought large numbers of people from Los Angeles and San Bernardino this morning to see the famous football star in action,” wrote the newspaper. “Further atmosphere was furnished by a band from the Southern Branch (today’s UCLA) and a rooting section from that school, together with a large section of Pomona rooters.”
Harold “Red” Grange, about 1923. (Courtesy photo)
The paper had advertised a few days earlier of the opportunity to watch the filming. Free tickets were available at a place called the Black-Dahl Shop in Claremont, though with a throng of that magnitude you suspect the tickets weren’t really necessary.
As the fictional game was to take place on a fall day in the Midwest, crowd members were asked to dress warmly as appropriate for autumn — not a comfortable situation for that 80-degree day in Claremont.
The article said a paid student rooting section was to be organized in the middle of the stands. “Men desiring a place in this section are to place their applications” at the Claremont shop. “They have to furnish their own rooting cap and come to the film battle attired in a white shirt.”
And just to spice up things, the Progress on the day of the filming ran a “special” article and photos of Grange, obviously a studio-produced puff piece. The article was all about Grange’s talents as a good kisser in his role with the film’s female lead, Edna Murphy. “Red is paid to kiss her on an average of 14 times in every love scene, and the picture abounds in love scenes,” the article said. However, for the filming on the football field, he was able to give those lips a rest.
“One Minute to Play” was a story that included a football game between two fictional schools, Grange’s Parmalee College and the opponents at Claxton College. Claxton was headed by another prominent football player George Wilson, who had often faced Grange in real games on the college and pro gridiron.
A number of past and present Pomona College football players were recruited to don the uniforms of the two colleges for the filming. The article said two locals, Red Kennedy and Colvin Heath, played the officials, and it even gave credit to “Morris Richardson who carried water.”
During the filming, “hard young huskies made it their personal business individually and collectively to ‘gang’ Grange,” reported the Pomona Bulletin on Oct. 12. “Or rather, they made it their business to try. There are 22 youths, at least, who will testify that the reputation of the Galloping Ghost is well earned.”
The filming at the college and back at the studios went on without problems, though Grange was later quoted as saying it was “the worst drudgery I’d ever experienced.” As successful as he was in this film, he turned down an offer from the movie’s producers, the Film Booking Offices of America, to quit football and become a full-time actor.
The film itself received fairly positive reviews and was well-received after its release in September.
Grange even had a few family members who lived in the vicinity. His cousin Mable Grange of Ontario and her two daughters planned to attend the filming. They had been able to hold a mini-reunion with him in January when he played in an exhibition game in Los Angeles, according to the Progress on Jan. 17.
W. F. Grange, uncle of the football star, was a resident of Chino at the time but could not attend the filming, reported the Ontario Daily Report, June 16. A week before the filming, he had been married to Ida Glensmer at a private ceremony in Santa Ana.
Route 66
If you are in the Feldheym Library in San Bernardino, take a few minutes to look over several interesting displays honoring this year’s centennial of Route 66.
John Atwater of Rancho Cucamonga and ambassador for the California Historic Route 66 Association has set up a variety of displays showing pictures and Route 66 memorabilia from his collection.
He told me the association is asking every city in which Route 66 crosses in San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties to issue a proclamation honoring the centennial.
Joe Blackstock writes on Inland Empire history. He can be reached at joe.blackstock@gmail.com or on X @JoeBlackstock. Check out some of the past articles at Inland Empire Stories on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IEHistory.