Grantland Rice

Grantland Rice (November 1, 1880–July 13, 1954) was an early 20th century American sportswriter.

Related Topics:
November 1 - 1880 - July 13 - 1954 - 20th century - American - Sportswriter

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He was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and subsequently attended Montgomery Bell Academy and Vanderbilt University in Nashville. After taking early jobs with the Atlanta Journal and the Cleveland News he later became a sportswriter for the Nashville Tennessean. Afterwards he obtained a series of prestigious jobs with major newspapers in the northeast. He is best-known as being the successor to Walter Camp in the selection of college football All-America teams beginning in 1925, and for being the writer who dubbed the great backfield of the Notre Dame team of the late 1920s the "Four Horsemen" of Notre Dame, a Biblical reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, in a famous passage that began: "Silhouetted against a blue-gray October sky ...", adding great import to the event described and elevating it to a level far beyond that of a mere football game. His writing tended to be of an "inspirational" or "heroic" style, raising games to the level of ancient combat and their heroes to the status of demigods. This may be widely ridiculed were it to be attempted today, but the readers of his time seem to have been mostly enamored of it. He became even better known after his columns were nationally syndicated beginning in 1930, and became known as the "Dean of American Sports Writers". He and his writing are among the reasons that the 1920s in the United States are sometimes referred to as the "Golden Age of Sports".

Related Topics:
Murfreesboro, Tennessee - Montgomery Bell Academy - Vanderbilt University - Nashville - Atlanta Journal - Nashville Tennessean - Walter Camp - College football - All-America - 1925 - Notre Dame - 1920s - Biblical - Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Football - Hero - Combat - Demigod - 1930

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