 It's time for yours truly Jimmy Powers with another Grantland rice story. This is Jimmy Powers today We have a treat for every sport fan in America. Not only are we bringing you another exciting chapter of the Grantland rice story We're giving you Grantland rice himself Down the years granny appeared on many radio programs many of these broadcasts were preserved for posterity It is from this collection that we bring you the voice of that late and beloved Dean of sports writers Grantland rice This is granny rice Not so fast granny first Let me tell the folks that the first two excerpts were spoken by you at a Notre Dame football rally Where as your part in the proceedings you gave tribute to your departed friend Newt Rockney What were those two tributes granny one goes like this? Yes to all rock To our friend and our pal is still the star guy in Valhalla's corral Wherever he is on what star of flame he's still got a team that is winning some game And the other brief one just one brief line We rise to our feet as he hobbles by a gentleman unafraid In 1937 granny was the guest of joe cook a famed Broadway star Joe had just asked granny how long he had been associated with baseball and granny said Well, Joe, I'll tell you I was playing baseball at Vanderbilt University when Rube Waddell the speedball pitcher was a Detroit rookie The Rube took a day off from fishing to pitch against us. Did the Rube have much stuff? I don't know Joe. I never saw it All I remember is the loud voice the ball made when it hit the catcher's glove and the umpire yell strike three Grant next week. I'm going to have bob feller up here. What do you think of that boy as a pitcher? I'll tell you there's a chance that young bob feller might pitch the cleaver and Indians up around the top You know this 17 year old kid has been the biggest sensation baseball ever knew for a starting year He struck out 17 men in one game during his first month And that's as good as any pitcher ever did in a big league lifetime Well, I'll talk that over with bob next week You know, I'm anxious to meet him because everybody is raving about the kid and predicting a great future for him I certainly wish him luck joe. I think he's got what it takes to make the pitcher's hall of fame Well, he's sure to at least make the vestibule anyway But what pitchers would you nominate for your hall of fame grant? That's a tough one joe That was sigh young who won over 500 ball games far beyond all others That was walter johnson's slightly one of the greatest that ever lived old barny the fastest of them all and a grand guy There was grover cleaver and alexander who picked 16 shutouts in one year a great pitcher with a heart of a dozen lions All great pitchers, but I think the greatest of them all is a fellow named christie mathison of the giants Good old big six I guess matty got that nickname because the batters thought he was throwing six balls at once So he was a grand guy wasn't he? None better joe the world lost something fine when matty died He was a great pitcher and a great competitor. He was something more than a pitcher He was one of those rare characters who appealed to the millions because of his clean honesty And undying loyalty to a cause Here was a ball player with ideals A ball player who held public faith in dark days when others were trying to destroy this faith Matheson was above the clamor of the crowds From the day he first walked upon the field up to his passing He set his eyes upon a certain goal Along the road of honesty cleanness service and loyalty And nothing could swerve him from this path If it's all right with you joe, I'd like to add one final To matty just for old time's sake. Well, it's more than all right with me. I like to hear grant Matty somewhere above your dust today The winds of april saying the song of old you love to hear of baseball and of spain All set to shoot your fate away and trust your luck with faith Though Wagner took his mighty belt and frank chance hugged the plate I see again old ghost swarmed by from a forgotten day When he was snarled and thinker fought and shackered stood at bay When John McGraw rushed from the bench to call some umpire down But always called upon big six to stop three finger brown I see once more dim phantoms pass when you and I were young Before your steel arm lost its speed Before my songs were sung Joe wooden bender feister plank hang gaudy and devour You still remember from your dust from days that come no more Another april comes again another season starts New names are in the headlines now new stars must play their parts Time moves along the cast has changed But some remember still the matty of a bygone day Who gave the game its thrill Yes, a mighty tribute to a great by a great During the middle 1930s the comeback trail boasted of such greats as Jimmy Braddock the Cinderella man Helen wills little miss poker face Lefty Grove and others granny was inspired by these mighty champions of yesterday So much so that he sat down to his typewriter and wrote the unforgettable verse entitled the unwipped Which he gives us now I have learned something well worthwhile that victory could not bring To wipe the blood from my mouth and smile By no one can see the same I can walk head up while my heart is down And the beating has brought its goals And that means more than a captain found was taking the easier road I have learned something's worth far more than victory brings to men battered and beaten bruised and sore I can still come back again crowded back in the hard tough race I have found that I have the heart You're in the face and trained for another start Winners who wear the laurel wreath Looking for softer ways Watch for my blade as it leaves the sheath sharpened on rougher days Trained upon pain and punishment. I've gulped my way through the night But the flag still flies through my battle stance and I've only begun to fight A beautiful poem granny and even more inspiring today than when you wrote it On being interviewed one night on a network show Granny was asked if he recalled his piece of football verse about michigan and Yale And here was his reply Here's a funny thing an old friend of mine from michigan sent me a copy a few days ago I had almost forgotten about it, but it goes like this I remember the stand at somopolis the greek god made one day I remember the legions at sea to use to shatter the galax way And I remember across the years the banners that crowned the test When Yale was king of the convent east and michigan ruled the west At night in my humble danai dream of the glories that used to be A carnival taking the alpine trail of drake on the open sea And then I wandered the ancient ways to a dream that I loved best When Yale was king of the convent east and michigan ruled the west And as your final poem on this program granny, how about that immortal masterpiece you wrote on jack demsey? When I watched all these fellas mall amid the modern bunch Or when I watched them clench and grab and everything but punch My thoughts go back some 16 years on back to mommy bae When willard christ likes some great oak upon a july day A right smash underneath the heart a left hook to the chin As demsey came on like the safe to slug it out and win When I watch all these modern mugs collect their easy dough By putting on a clutch and dance or mugging up the show My dreams go back along the road to one september night When shaggy purple boiled and threw his high explosive right As demsey sailed out through the ropes to crawl back in again And stand above a battered hook until they counted 10 Yes, take him on his fading legs no longer held a face When cunny pumps his left and right into a battered face He still had hard enough to charge for one old time attack And leave the startle champion upon his brawny back And as I watched them tug and slap I mean these modern dope. I see the old monash of ghosts Liding across the rope I see him scowl upon his tomb. I feel the crowd go tense I see him grip his iron fist amid the deep suspense I hear the lull. I hear the roar As old time makers lived I see him charge across the ring to take it and to give And I'm not looking at the mug to push around in place I'm thinking of the fighting man who came to maw me base And that's one or perhaps many reasons why so many people love the writings of granny rice That's why he cut through to people of all ages and creeds Why perhaps he made his love of sport and his philosophy concerning sport such a vital part of the american heritage Yes, that's why so many waited for these words This is granny rice And now this is jimmy powers transcribed saying so long for now