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Drama & Anthology · Syndicated (RCA Thesaurus)

The Grantland Rice Story

· 52 broadcasts

The Grantland Rice Story is a 1955 syndicated radio serialization of The Tumult and the Shouting, the best-selling autobiography of Grantland Rice -- the most celebrated American sportswriter of the first half of the twentieth century. Distributed to stations on transcription discs by RCA Thesaurus after Rice's death in 1954, the fifty-two fifteen-minute installments follow his memoir from its opening pages through the whole sweep of his career. Sportswriter and broadcaster Jimmy Powers narrates in the first person, as Rice intended, reading from the book and adding his own recollections, updates, and asides. Across the run, Rice's stories bring back the giants he covered and befriended: Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen, Knute Rockne and the Four Horsemen, Jim Thorpe, Joe Louis, Ben Hogan, and many more, along with the racehorse Man o' War. Several programs feature interviews with the athletes and writers who knew Rice, and one is built around surviving recordings of his own voice. Because the discs carried no broadcast dates and stations aired them on their own schedules, the episodes survive as an undated, sequential run of fifty-two.

Collection status: 52 of 52 held (100% complete)
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Episode Spine

undated

date unknown Beginning at the Beginning Listen (MP3)
Jimmy Powers opens the radio biography, reading the first pages of Rice's memoir and setting the stage for the sportswriter's life and era.
date unknown The Big Fellow Babe Ruth Listen (MP3)
Powers reads Grantland Rice's recollections of Babe Ruth, the towering figure Rice called 'the Big Fellow.'
date unknown Man O War Listen (MP3)
The story of the great racehorse Man o' War, with a jockey's firsthand recollections of the era.
date unknown Jack Dempsey The Man From Maumee Bay Listen (MP3)
Rice's eyewitness account of Jack Dempsey's rise and his savage bouts in the ring.
date unknown The Dempsey Tunney Fights Listen (MP3)
Jack Dempsey himself recalls the two Tunney bouts and the famous 'long count' at the second fight.
date unknown Great Athletes Past and Present Listen (MP3)
Sound portraits of the durable champions Rice covered, among them Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Bob Fitzsimmons, and Bill Tilden.
date unknown The Story of Big Bill Tilden Listen (MP3)
Rice's portrait of the temperamental tennis champion 'Big Bill' Tilden.
date unknown Golf and its Champions Listen (MP3)
Rice's early history of championship golf and the first great players, before the World War.
date unknown The Incredible Man Walter Hagen Listen (MP3)
Stories of the flamboyant golf champion Walter Hagen, drawn from Rice's writing.
date unknown Grannys All Time Pitching Selection Listen (MP3)
Rice names and defends his all-time selection of baseball's greatest pitchers.
date unknown The Story of Jack Dempseys Early Ring Career Listen (MP3)
Rice's account of Jack Dempsey's rough early years fighting his way up in the ring.
date unknown Grannys Story of Gene Tunney Listen (MP3)
Rice on Gene Tunney, with sportswriter Harry Grayson, who alone predicted Tunney would beat Dempsey.
date unknown War Clouds World War I Listen (MP3)
Rice's own recollections of his army service during the First World War.
date unknown Bobby Jones The Incomparable Youth Listen (MP3)
Rice on the young Bobby Jones and the making of a golf prodigy.
date unknown Footballs Beloved Knute Rockne Listen (MP3)
Notre Dame's Knute Rockne remembered, with a former player, now a New York Giants scout, recalling him.
date unknown The Immortal Bobby Jones Listen (MP3)
Bobby Jones' championship career from 1930 onward, with Jones himself as guest.
date unknown Babe Didrikson Zaharias Listen (MP3)
Rice's tribute to Babe Didrikson Zaharias, the era's greatest all-around woman athlete.
date unknown Grannys All Time Baseball Team Listen (MP3)
Rice names the players on his all-time baseball team.
date unknown Baseball Managers Listen (MP3)
Rice on the great baseball managers he knew and covered.
date unknown Grannys All Time Football Team Listen (MP3)
Rice names the players on his all-time football team.
date unknown Magnificent Screwballs Listen (MP3)
Rice's affectionate stories of sport's great characters and eccentrics.
date unknown The Fabulous Ty Cobb Listen (MP3)
Rice's close-up of the fierce and brilliant Ty Cobb.
date unknown Footballs Famous Coaches Listen (MP3)
Rice on the famous football coaches of his time.
date unknown Footballs Advance Guard Listen (MP3)
Rice on the pioneers of the early game who formed football's advance guard.
date unknown Uncle Remus And Some Others Listen (MP3)
A chapter of Rice's reminiscences of the memorable characters and storytellers he knew.
date unknown My Friend Joe Louis Listen (MP3)
Rice's admiring portrait of heavyweight champion Joe Louis.
date unknown Sport Films Listen (MP3)
How Rice made his long-running sports film shorts, recalled by a colleague who worked on them.
date unknown Sports Writers Listen (MP3)
Rice's stories of the fellow sportswriters of his golden age.
date unknown Bantam Ben Hogan Listen (MP3)
Rice on the grit and comebacks of golfer Ben Hogan.
date unknown Through The Mists Listen (MP3)
Rice's reflective musings on sport and on life.
date unknown Polos Greatest Listen (MP3)
The great age of polo, with the son of one of its legends as guest.
date unknown Jim Thorpe Listen (MP3)
The rise and tragic fall of Jim Thorpe, the era's greatest all-around athlete.
date unknown TV And Sport Listen (MP3)
How television was changing sport, discussed with a leading college-athletics official.
date unknown Knute Rockne Listen (MP3)
Knute Rockne remembered by Jim Crowley, one of Notre Dame's original Four Horsemen.
date unknown Grannys Own Voice Listen (MP3)
A program built around surviving recordings of Grantland Rice's own voice.
date unknown An Appraisal of the Game Football Listen (MP3)
Rice's appraisal of the game of football and what it meant to America.
date unknown Turkey Hunting Listen (MP3)
A change of pace, as Rice turns to the sport of turkey hunting and finds it harder than it looks.
date unknown The Man Who Hates To Lose Listen (MP3)
The fierce competitiveness of football man 'Greasy' Neale, the man who hated to lose.
date unknown Gene Tunney 2nd Installment Listen (MP3)
Gene Tunney returns to recall Grantland Rice and his own early days in the ring.
date unknown Red Blaik of Army Listen (MP3)
Rice's chapter on Army's football coach Earl 'Red' Blaik.
date unknown The Mighty Mites Listen (MP3)
Stories of the coaches who built winners at small colleges: the mighty mites.
date unknown Writers And Pals Listen (MP3)
Restaurateur Toots Shor and others remember Rice and the sportswriters' crowd.
date unknown Ed Furgols Greatest Victory Listen (MP3)
Golfer Ed Furgol's 1954 U.S. Open triumph, won despite a crippled left arm.
date unknown Irwin S Cobb A Man Of Heart Listen (MP3)
Rice's warm remembrance of his friend, the humorist Irvin S. Cobb.
date unknown The Sports Public And Ted Williams Listen (MP3)
Rice on the passions of the sporting public, arriving in time at Ted Williams.
date unknown Ruths Homer Listen (MP3)
Rice's version of the time Babe Ruth pointed to where he would hit his famous 'called shot' home run.
date unknown The Big Game Listen (MP3)
Rice's yarns about football's great traditional rivalries and their biggest games.
date unknown What Makes a Competitor Listen (MP3)
What drives a champion, including the story of Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning 1951 home run.
date unknown Famous Football Coaches Listen (MP3)
Football's famous coaches, featuring a 1947 Rose Bowl luncheon recording of Rice.
date unknown The Uncrowned Champs Listen (MP3)
Rice's chapter on the 'uncrowned champions,' great athletes who never wore a title.
date unknown Granddaddy Of The Blues And Some Football Memories Listen (MP3)
Football memories, including the remarkable story of gridiron pioneer Pudge Heffelfinger.
date unknown Memorable Tributes To Granny Rice Listen (MP3)
The series closes with memorial tributes to Grantland 'Granny' Rice.
The Story

The Grantland Rice Story is a 1955 syndicated radio serialization of The Tumult and the Shouting, the best-selling autobiography of Grantland Rice -- the most celebrated American sportswriter of the first half of the twentieth century. Distributed to stations on transcription discs by RCA Thesaurus after Rice's death in 1954, the fifty-two fifteen-minute installments follow his memoir from its opening pages through the whole sweep of his career. Sportswriter and broadcaster Jimmy Powers narrates in the first person, as Rice intended, reading from the book and adding his own recollections, updates, and asides. Across the run, Rice's stories bring back the giants he covered and befriended: Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen, Knute Rockne and the Four Horsemen, Jim Thorpe, Joe Louis, Ben Hogan, and many more, along with the racehorse Man o' War. Several programs feature interviews with the athletes and writers who knew Rice, and one is built around surviving recordings of his own voice. Because the discs carried no broadcast dates and stations aired them on their own schedules, the episodes survive as an undated, sequential run of fifty-two.

Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
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