Jimmy Powers introduces the life of sportswriter Grantland Rice, who covered American sports for over fifty years. Powers recounts the sports writers of his era and Rice's philosophy about golf and living. He then tells the story in first person as Rice, beginning with his birth in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1880 and his family background. Rice describes his years at Vanderbilt University, where he played football and baseball, and his first jobs in newspapers in Nashville and Atlanta. He recalls marrying Catherine Hollis and the birth of their daughter Florence. Finally he receives an offer from the New York Evening Mail and makes the move to New York, leaving his family behind until they can follow him.

With Jimmy Powers, Grantland Rice, Major Henry Grantland, Catherine Hollis, Martin, Henry L. Stoddard.

Listen for: Rice's account of his first newspaper jobs and his move to New York to join the Evening Mail

First aired in 1950.

Episode notes written with AI from the recording itself; the audio is the original broadcast.

Free, complete and restored, no modern ads. A new episode every week: The Grantland Rice Story on Stupid Potato, every episode so far and the episode guide.

Stupid Potato restores classic radio and TV audio and runs 60 free 24/7 channels and 188 podcasts: old-time radio westerns, detectives, comedy, science fiction and suspense, vintage TV, Saturday-morning cartoons, Halloween and Christmas. No modern ads. Listen free at stupidpotato.com.

Grantland Rice, sports writer, recalls his early encounters with the young Boston Red Sox pitcher and slugger George Herman Babe Ruth. In spring 1919 at Tampa, Florida, Rice watches Ruth hit batting practice drives and hears manager Ed Barrow describe the player's value to baseball. Rice then recounts the sale of Ruth to Colonel Jake Rupert, Ruth's enormous popularity with crowds and children, and several anecdotes from their time together, including a radio broadcast mishap and a dinner party in St. Petersburg, Florida. The episode is the second chapter of the series, drawn from Rice's account of his life in sports and told in the first person.

With Grantland Rice, Jimmy Powers, Babe Ruth, Ed Barrow, Colonel Jake Rupert, Graham McNamee, Mrs. Lipman, Walter Lipman.

Listen for: Rice's first sight of Babe Ruth's batting practice in Tampa in 1919, and the St. Petersburg dinner party where Ruth describes his 1932 World Series home run

First aired in 1950.

Episode notes written with AI from the recording itself; the audio is the original broadcast.

Free, complete and restored, no modern ads. A new episode every week: The Grantland Rice Story on Stupid Potato, every episode so far and the episode guide.

Stupid Potato restores classic radio and TV audio and runs 60 free 24/7 channels and 188 podcasts: old-time radio westerns, detectives, comedy, science fiction and suspense, vintage TV, Saturday-morning cartoons, Halloween and Christmas. No modern ads. Listen free at stupidpotato.com.

Jimmy Powers hosts this installment of The Grantland Rice Story, in which the sportswriter reflects on the racehorses he has followed over the years. Rice recalls his first sight of Man O' War at Jamaica in 1920, and he ranks the great horses of his time, placing Exterminator first. He describes the match race between Man O' War and John P. Greer at Aqueduct in July 1920. Jockey Earl Sandy then joins Powers in the studio to talk about riding Man O' War, training Seabiscuit, and the hard toll of keeping his weight down.

With Jimmy Powers, Grantland Rice, Earl Sandy, Man O' War, John P. Greer, Exterminator, Seabiscuit, Big Red.

Listen for: Rice's account of the 1920 Man O' War and John P. Greer match race at Aqueduct, and Earl Sandy's description of riding Man O' War.

First aired in 1950.

Episode notes written with AI from the recording itself; the audio is the original broadcast.

Free, complete and restored, no modern ads. A new episode every week: The Grantland Rice Story on Stupid Potato, every episode so far and the episode guide.

Stupid Potato restores classic radio and TV audio and runs 60 free 24/7 channels and 188 podcasts: old-time radio westerns, detectives, comedy, science fiction and suspense, vintage TV, Saturday-morning cartoons, Halloween and Christmas. No modern ads. Listen free at stupidpotato.com.