By Grantland Rice (2018)

In the annals of sports writing there is no more hallowed figure than Vanderbilt graduate Grantland Rice By his own estimate over his halfcentury career Rice wrote more than 22000 columns 7000 sets of verse and over a thousand magazine articles But his story began in the heart of SEC country as Granny Rice was born in Murfreesboro Tenn went to Vanderbilt and then began a remarkable journalism career with his first job at the Nashville Daily News for 5 a week This is the story of not an athlete but an observer poet and storyteller a giant in the world of sports