Henry Grantland Rice
Sportswriter; Radio, Television and Film Producer, Announcer, Interviewer; Author
(1880-1954)
Birthplace: Murfreesboro, Tennessee, U.S.A.
Education: Vanderbilt University
Radiography:
1930 Coca-Cola Top Notchers
1935 Opening Of the NBC Hollywood Studios
1936 Then and Now
1938 Fight Preview
1941 Cities Service Concert
1941 NBC's Fifteenth Anniversary Party
1942 Information Please
1943 The Sportsman's Club
1944 Saturday Night Bondwagon
1946 Savings Bond Campaign
1951 Grantland Rice Football Forecast
1953 Gillette Cavalcade Of Sports
1955 The Grantland Rice Story |

Grantland Rice circa 1943

Grantland Rice circa 1945

Grantland Rice circa 1952

Grantland Rice circa 1953
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From the July 14, 1954 edition of the Newport Daily News:
Grantland Rice, Dean Of American Sports Columnists
NEW YORK (AP) -- "Outlined against the blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again."
Perhaps there will be better leads written on sports stories, but there probably will never be a more widely known one. It was written almost three decades ago in describing the Army - Notre Dame football game of 1924 by Grantland Rice, the dean of American sports writers, who died of a stroke last night at 73.
Notre Dame went on to win the game on that murky day and the famous backfield of Elmer Layden, Harry Stuldreher, Jim Crowley and Don Miller became a legend.
Rice was a perfectionist of his profession and many is the youngster who tried to pattern himself after this veteran of more than a half-century in sports.
Granny, as he was known in the trade, was one of the first erudite sports writers. When he started, after his graduation from Vanderbilt University with a Phi Beta Kappa key, sports departments as they are known today, were non-existent.
$5 A Week
In fact, his first job with the Nashville News in 1901 combined covering sports with the state capital, county court house and customs office--at $5 a week.
From the start, his flair for verse manifested itself and almost anybody can quote his most famous lines, although no doubt not everyone knows the author:
"When the great scorer comes
"To mark against your name
"He'll write not 'won' and 'lost'
"But how you played the game."
He had several books of verse published including one on the first world war in collaboration with Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
He served in the Army during World War I and was commissioned a first lieutenant. He was sent to France and was transferred to the Army newspaper, Stars and Stripes, then was made a liaison officer.
Rice's opinions were widely sought and he never could decide whether Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb was the greatest athlete he ever watched. He was certain that his greatest thrill was watching Ruth point to the flagpole in Wrigley Field then hitting the ball to that exact spot for a home run, during the 1932 world series.
Greatest Fight
He said the Dempsey-Firpo fight of 1923 was the greatest fight he ever saw and that Bobby Jones' grand slam of 1930 was his biggest golf thrill. Jones, who was one of Rice's closest friends, said "his death is the worst news I have heard in years."
In addition to the Nashville News, Rice worked on Forester Magazine, the Atlanta Journal, the Cleveland News, the Nashville Tennesseean, the New York Evening Mail, the New York Herald Tribune and the Bell Syndicate which distributed his column at the time of his death.
He is survived by his widow, Katherine, whom he married in 1906, and a daughter, Mrs. Fred Butler of Venice, Calif. Professionally she is Florence Rice of the movies and stage.
Rice was born in Murfreesboro, Tenn., on Nov. 1, 1880.
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