“It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.” Perhaps the most famous quote in all of sports was coined by one of the most famous sports figures of all time, the legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice. Born in Murfreesboro on November 1, 1880, Rice was one of the foremost sports authorities and respected voices during his heyday as New York’s “Herald Tribune” columnist. By one estimate, Rice wrote more than 22,000 columns and more than 67,000,000 words. His syndicated column, “The Sportlight,” was the most influential of its day. After graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1901, Rice spent some years working as a sportswriter for the “Nashville Daily News” and other southern newspapers, including the “Atlanta Journal.” From 1907 to 1911, Rice traveled the South umpiring and refereeing at football and baseball games, until in 1911 he was hired by the “New York Evening Mail”, and in 1914 he joined the “New York Tribune”, later the “Herald Tribune.” In 1924 Rice gave the backfield of the University of Notre Dame’s football team its enduring name, the “Four Horsemen,” and his annual selections of All-American football teams for” Collier’s” magazine were considered to be authoritative. In addition to sportswriting, Rice was also a poet who published three collections of poetry. Although “it’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game,” Grantland Rice was certainly a winner through and through.
