red grange bears Archives

College Football Preview Series: the 32 teams we’ll cover this summer

May 27, 2014 By paulmbanks 1 Comment

It’s already that time of year when this site shifts more into pop culture, media and entertainment mode. What did you think I did when there was no football and basketball? Well, Spurs vs Heat Finals? Yawn.Been there. Done that.

And the Blackhawks have obviously jumped the shark now. So hockey and NBA are both done for me for this season. That summer lull of dullness also means I start the way to early college football previews.

Here’s who we’re previewing and why. 32 teams just like in the NFL.
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Illini Legend Red Grange is Big Ten Icon #1!!!

March 5, 2011 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Just announced today, the #1 overall sports icon in Big Ten history is…..Red Grange of the Illinois Fighting Illini! The man who was the Babe Ruth of college football and the NFL. He even had a candy bar named after him; just like Ruth. Grange was named the greatest college football player of all time on New Year’s Day 2008, and he pretty much put the Chicago Bears on the map in the 1920s.

He was so big that required two nicknames, the “Galloping Ghost” which conveyed his immortality. And the “Wheaton Iceman” conveying the everydayness of this 5’10” 175 pound legend. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Chicago Bears, College Football, Illinois Fighting Illini Tagged With: #1 big ten icons, #1 big ten ten icon red grange, harold red grange, Red Grange, red grange bears, red grange big ten icon #1, red grange football, red grange galloping ghost, red grange greatest of all time, red grange icons, red grange illini, red grange illinois, red grange wheaton iceman

Will Super Bowl Make Rashard Mendenhall Greatest Illini Rusher Ever?

January 31, 2011 By paulmbanks 2 Comments

For the second year in a row, the Super Bowl will have a feature back from the University of Illinois. This time, the Illini tailback is the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Rashard Mendenhall; who in 2008 became the first University of Illinois player taken in the first round of the NFL Draft since 1996.

14 years ago, UI produced the #2 (Kevin Hardy taken by Jacksonville) and #3 overall (Simeon Rice drafted by Arizona) picks. Hard to believe that team went 5-5-1. Mendenhall’s 4.45 forty time, ideal size at 5’11”, 225, a 33½ inch vertical, Shard has developed into a star in the NFL. The native of Skokie will burn by you, run through you and impress you with a last name that sounds like it should belong to a British aristocrat. Or perhaps the name of the English countryside mansion where that nobleman lives.

Mikel Leshoure is drawing all sorts of Mendenhall comparisons right now, as his draft stock is gaining serious momentum. But who are the other Illini rushers who made their presence felt in the NFL?

By Paul M. Banks

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