It’s been almost 70 years since the legend of the Granger Ghost was born, and while it may not be as well known as it used to, it’s still an integral part of Texas high school football history. The name came about on a foggy evening when the Granger Lions were playing the Rockdale Tigers for the district championship.
Gilbert (Gil) Bartosh, a dynamic athlete for the Lions, was the player to watch going into the game. With his ability to play running back, quarterback and kick returner, he was already a handful to deal with in perfect playing conditions; however, with the extreme fog he was almost an unfair opponent. With 65 passing yards and a game high 105 rushing yards, Bartosh led the Lions to a 19-7 victory and a District 36-B title.
Not only was Bartosh impossible to slow down, he couldn’t even be seen with the combination of fog and his incredible speed and athleticism. Bartosh is often referred to as the greatest football player to ever come out of the small town of Granger, Texas.
After graduating from Granger, he went on to play quarterback at TCU under head coach Dutch Meyer where he was again a star. His most successful season was his junior year when he led the Horned Frogs to both a conference title and a Cotton Bowl birth. He finished the season as the Southwest Conference’s leader in total yards and was named to the All-American team. Many years later, he would be inducted into TCU Football’s Hall of Fame.
Though he got drafted in 1952 by the Baltimore Colts, he never played in the NFL due to entry into the U.S. Navy. After leaving the Navy, Bartosh spent a year with the British Columbia Lions before hanging up the cleats for good. Though he was retired from playing football, Bartosh wasn’t able to walk away from the game he loved just yet. His coaching career began in 1959 when he was hired as the head football coach for Milby High School.
While he had successful seasons elsewhere, he found his most success in 1971-1972 at Odessa Permian where he led the Panthers to a 23-1 record over 2 seasons winning both a State and National championship. He reached his highest level of coaching in 1974 when he was named the head coach of UTEP, however he struggled for three years before returning to the high school level. 1979 marked the end of Bartosh’s coaching career and 10 years later he was inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. Gil Bartosh passed away on June 4, 2016, and though he may be gone, he certainly left us all with an incredible story of a small town player’s success.
