ABOUT THE BOOK

One hundred years ago, while playing for the University of Illinois, Red Grange scored four touchdowns in the first quarter of a 10/18/1924 game against Michigan — an extraordinary feat still regarded today by Sports Illustrated as the most unforgettable single-day performance by any athlete. Like today, Michigan was the reigning national champion and hadn’t lost a game in two years. As news of his feat spread, sportswriters across the county anointed Grange “the greatest football player of all time.”

The Golden Age of Red takes readers inside Red’s athletic career, which sparked the original debate as to whether student-athletes should be compensated.  Ever modest and shy, Red Grange craved normalcy, wanting nothing more than to finish his final season, earn a degree, settle down, and start a business career, but that was no longer an option. Finding himself with a level of fame beyond even Babe Ruth, Red didn’t know where to turn. His girlfriend, coach, friends, family, boosters, and the fledgling NFL all craved a piece of him. With swaggering confidence and a silver tongue, C.C. Pyle, America’s first sports agent, dangled before Red an alternate destiny. As the game clock ticked down in his final college game, Red struggled to capitalize on his fame without sacrificing his soul.

With appearances by Charlie Chaplin, Chicago Bears owner George Halas, New York Giants owner Tim Mara, and several other 1920s celebrities, including an eight-year-old JFK, whose father, Joe Kennedy, produced two movies starring Red Grange, The Golden Age of Red is a fast, entertaining work of immersive biographical historical fiction that will resonate with sports enthusiasts of all ages, and especially those following today’s almost daily changes regarding the compensation of student-athletes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Doug Villhard is a writer, professor, entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. After decades of starting and selling companies, Villhard is supposed to be retired but instead is having too much fun heading the #1 ranked entrepreneurship department at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. This is his third novel, following Company of Women (2022) and City of Women (2023).

Doug, his wife Diane, and their four children live just outside of St. Louis in Glen Carbon, Illinois, where they co-founded Father McGivney Catholic High School. When Doug isn’t writing, teaching, investing in startups, or serving on boards, he’s perpetually working toward achieving a respectable golf score.