C C Pyle Red Grange (1 results)

Unbound. Condition: Very Good. Legal-size partially typed document. Measuring approximately 8½" x 13". A couple of old folds, modest age-toning, very good. The document attests to eight records set by Harry R. Gunn during the 1928 cross-country race, and is Signed by race officials, including the race's promoter, the well-known huckster C.C. ("Cash and Carry") Pyle. The document is also Signed by head referee and football legend Red Grange (Cash was responsible for Grange leaving college to play pro football), race judge and tractor engine manufacturer Charles Walter Hart, race judge Hugo Quist (sports promoter and Sonja Henie's manager and trainer), "Head Checker" and professional football player Ted Bucklin, and also by three wire service correspondents who were covering the race. The document is notarized by a New York notary public. The race was a promotion, similar in some aspects to a dance marathon, featuring 68 walkers who traversed the country from Los Angeles to New York. The winner, 19-year-old Cherokee Andy Payne, received $25,000. Gunn, the son of a wealthy Los Angeles businessman, finished 28th. However, his father had made substantial bets that his son would finish the race, and presumably this affidavit was a necessity for him to collect. Gunn was featured in the 2002 documentary film about the event, *The Great American Race*. An interesting artifact of an unusual footnote in American popular culture.