George Halas

George Stanley Halas Sr. (/ˈhæləs/; February 2, 1895 – October 31, 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was an American professional football player, coach, and team owner. He was the founder, owner, and head coach of the National Football League's Chicago Bears. He was also lesser known as a Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees.

For his son, also an American football executive, see George Halas Jr.

George Halas
Halas' 1952 Bowman trading card
Position:End
Personal information
Born:(1895-02-02)February 2, 1895
Chicago, Illinois
Died:October 31, 1983(1983-10-31) (aged 88)
Chicago, Illinois
Height:6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight:182 lb (83 kg)
Career information
High school:Chicago (IL) Crane
College:Illinois
Career history
As player:
As coach:
As executive:
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Games played:104
Touchdowns:10
Player stats at NFL.com
Head coaching record
Regular season:318–148–31 (.671)
Postseason:6–3 (.667)
Career:324–151–31 (.671)
Player stats at PFR
Coaching stats at PFR
George Halas
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Navy
Years of service1918, 1942–1946
Rank Captain
UnitSeventh Fleet
Battles/warsWorld War I, World War II
AwardsBronze Star
George Halas
Outfielder
Born: (1895-02-02)February 2, 1895
Chicago, Illinois
Died: October 31, 1983(1983-10-31) (aged 88)
Chicago, Illinois
Batted: Both Threw: Right
MLB debut
May 6, 1919, for the New York Yankees
Last MLB appearance
July 5, 1919, for the New York Yankees
MLB statistics
Batting average.091
Hits2
Home runs0
Runs batted in0
Teams

Halas was one of the co-founders of the National Football League (NFL) in 1920, and in 1963 became one of the first 17 inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Early life and sports career

Halas was born in Chicago, Illinois, into a family of Czech-Bohemian immigrants.[1][2][3] His parents, Barbara (Poledna), who ran a grocery store, and Frank Halas, a tailor, were migrants from Pilsen, Austria-Hungary.[4][5][6] George had a varied career in sports. In 1915, Halas worked temporarily for Western Electric, and was planning on being on the SS Eastland. He was running late, however, as he was attempting to gain weight to play Big Ten football and missed the capsizing, which killed 844 passengers.[7] After graduating from Crane High School in Chicago, he attended the University of Illinois, playing football for coach Bob Zuppke, as well as baseball and basketball, and earning a degree in civil engineering.[8] He also became a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He helped Illinois win the 1918 Big Ten Conference football title.

Serving as an ensign in the Navy during World War I, he played for a team at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station,[8] and was named the MVP of the 1919 Rose Bowl. On a team which included Paddy Driscoll and Jimmy Conzelman, Halas scored a receiving touchdown and returned an intercepted pass 77 yards in a 17–0 win over the Mare Island Marines of California; the team was also rewarded with their military discharges.

Afterward, Halas played minor league baseball, eventually earning a promotion to the New York Yankees, where he played 12 games as an outfielder in 1919.[8] However, a hip injury effectively ended his baseball career. The popular myth was that Halas was succeeded as the Yankees' right fielder by Babe Ruth, but in reality, it was Sammy Vick. Later that year, Halas played for the Hammond Pros and received about $75 per game.[9]

Professional football career

After one year with the Pros (also known as the All-Stars), Halas moved to Decatur, Illinois to take a position with the A. E. Staley Company, a starch manufacturer. He served as a company sales representative, an outfielder on the company-sponsored baseball team, and the player-coach of the company-sponsored football team the Decatur Staleys. Halas selected his alma mater's colors—orange and navy blue—for the team's uniforms.[10] In 1920, Halas represented the Staleys at the meeting which formed the American Professional Football Association (which became the NFL in 1922) in Canton, Ohio.[11] After the Staleys' season ended, Halas and teammates George Trafton, Hub Shoemake, and Hugh Blacklock joined the Chicago Stayms for a December 19 match against the Chicago Cardinals, marking the only time Halas would be an NFL team's opponent for another team besides the Staleys/Bears.[12] The game ended in a 14–14 tie.[13]

After suffering financial losses despite a 10–1–2 record, company founder and namesake Augustus E. Staley turned over control of the team to Halas in 1921. Halas moved the team to Chicago and took on teammate Dutch Sternaman as a partner. Halas was given a $5,000 bonus for the move to Chicago provided that he keep the Staleys franchise name for the 1921 season.[14] The newly minted "Chicago Staleys" maneuvered their schedule to win the NFL championship that year. They took the name Bears in 1922 as a tribute to baseball's Chicago Cubs, which permitted the Bears to play their games at Wrigley Field.

Halas was not only the team's coach, but also played end (wide receiver on offense, defensive end on defense) and handled ticket sales and the business of running the club. Named to the NFL's all-pro team in the 1920s, his playing highlight occurred in a 1923 game when he stripped Jim Thorpe of the ball, recovered the fumble, and returned it 98 yards—a league record which would stand until 1972. In 1925, Halas persuaded Illinois star player Red Grange to join the Bears; it was a significant step in establishing both the respectability and popularity of the league, which had previously been viewed as a refuge for less admirable players.

After ten seasons, Halas stepped back from the game in 1930, retiring as a player and handing coaching duties to Lake Forest Academy coach Ralph Jones; but he remained the team's owner, becoming sole owner in 1932. However, severe financial difficulties brought on by the Great Depression put the Bears in dire financial straits even though Jones led them to the NFL title in 1932. Halas returned as coach in 1933 to eliminate the additional cost of paying a head coach's salary. He coached the Bears for another ten seasons. His 1934 team was undefeated until a loss in the championship game to the New York Giants.

In the late 1930s, Halas—with University of Chicago coach Clark Shaughnessy—perfected the T-formation system to create a revolutionary and overwhelming style of play which drove the Bears to an astonishing 73–0 victory over the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL Championship Game—still the most lopsided margin of victory in NFL history. Every other team in the league immediately began trying to imitate the format. The Bears repeated as NFL champions in 1941, and the 1940s would be remembered as the era of the "Monsters of the Midway".

Halas and Shaughnessy had created a revolutionary concept with the T-formation offense. The complex spins, turns, fakes, and all around athletic versatility required to execute the scheme limited the possible players available. Halas believed he'd found the perfect quarterback for his new offense in Sid Luckman, a passing star at Columbia University. Luckman was a single wing tailback; the tailback is the primary runner and passer in that scheme. Luckman launched his Hall of Fame career playing quarterback for the Bears from 1939 to 1950. Halas was not satisfied with other players who succeeded Luckman under center. During this coaching stint, he had on the Bears roster two future Hall of Fame players, Bobby Layne in 1948 and George Blanda from 1949 to 1958. Other notable players included Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lujack from 1948 to 1951 and Zeke Bratkowski from 1954 to 1960. Blanda played in the NFL until 1975; Bratkowski moved on the Los Angeles Rams before signing with Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers in 1963, where he played an important role as "super sub" to starter Bart Starr in winning three straight NFL championships in 1965-'66-'67; and Bobby Layne quarterbacked the Detroit Lions to three NFL championship games between 1952–54, winning two.

Halas entered the Navy again after the advent of World War II in 1942, with the rank of lieutenant commander. He served overseas for 20 months under the command of Admiral Chester Nimitz. His duties were supporting the welfare and recreational activities of the Seventh Fleet.[15] He was awarded the Bronze Star during his recall and released from duty in 1946 with the rank of captain.[16] While in the Navy, the Bears won another title in 1943 under Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnsos. Returning to the field in 1946, he coached the club for a third decade, again winning a title in his first year back as coach.[17] That same year, Halas met with the Army Chief of Staff, General Dwight Eisenhower, the Navy Chief of Staff, Admiral Chester Nimitz, and the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Carl Spaatz, and offered to set up an annual charity football game, with the Bears as hosts, whose proceeds would go to the relief agencies of the armed forces. By mid-1957, proceeds from this game were $438,350.76[16] and proceeds from all games the Bears participated in between 1946 and 1957 were over $2 million.[18]

After a brief break in 1956–57, he resumed the controls of the club for a final decade from 1958 to 1967, winning his last championship in 1963. He did not, however, enjoy the same success as he had before the war, and officially retired on May 27, 1968.[19] He did win his 200th game in 1950 and his 300th game in 1965, becoming the first coach to reach both milestones. His six NFL Championships as a head coach is tied for the most all time with Green Bay's Curly Lambeau and later, New England's Bill Belichick.[20] In 40 years as a coach he endured only six losing seasons.

Head coaching record
TeamYearRegular seasonPostseason
WonLostTiesWin %FinishWonLostWin %Result
DEC1920 1012.9092nd in APFA–––Lost challenge to Akron Pros
CHS1921 911.9001st in APFA–––NFL Champions on tiebreaker over Buffalo All-Americans.[21]
CHI1922 930.7502nd in NFL––––
CHI1923 921.8182nd in NFL––––
CHI1924 614.8572nd in NFL–––Purported championship win over Cleveland Bulldogs overruled
CHI1925 953.6437th in NFL––––
CHI1926 1213.9232nd in NFL––––
CHI1927 932.7503rd in NFL––––
CHI1928 751.5835th in NFL––––
CHI1929 492.3089th in NFL––––
CHI1933 1021.8331st in NFL West101.000Defeated the New York Giants in 1933 NFL Championship.
CHI1934 13001.0001st in NFL West01.000Lost to the New York Giants in 1934 NFL Championship.
CHI1935 642.6003rd in NFL West––––
CHI1936 930.7502nd in NFL West––––
CHI1937 911.9001st in NFL West01.000Lost to the Washington Redskins in 1937 NFL Championship.
CHI1938 650.5453rd in NFL West––––
CHI1939 830.7272nd in NFL West––––
CHI1940 830.7271st in NFL West101.000Defeated the Washington Redskins in 1940 NFL Championship.
CHI1941 1010.9091st in NFL West201.000Defeated the New York Giants in 1941 NFL Championship.
CHI1942 11001.0001st in NFL West01.000Lost to the Washington Redskins in 1942 NFL Championship.
CHI1946 821.8001st in NFL West101.000Defeated the New York Giants in 1946 NFL Championship.
CHI1947 840.6672nd in NFL West––––
CHI1948 1020.8332nd in NFL West––––
CHI1949 930.7502nd in NFL West––––
CHI1950 930.7501st in NFL National01.000Lost to the Los Angeles Rams in conference playoff game.
CHI1951 750.5834th in NFL National––––
CHI1952 570.4175th in NFL National––––
CHI1953 381.2734th in NFL West––––
CHI1954 840.6672nd in NFL West––––
CHI1955 840.6672nd in NFL West––––
CHI1958 840.6672nd in NFL West––––
CHI1959 840.6672nd in NFL West––––
CHI1960 561.4555th in NFL West––––
CHI1961 860.5713rd in NFL West––––
CHI1962 950.6433rd in NFL West––––
CHI1963 1112.9171st in NFL West101.000Defeated the New York Giants in 1963 NFL Championship.
CHI1964 590.3576th in NFL West––––
CHI1965 950.6433rd in NFL West––––
CHI1966 572.4175th in NFL West––––
CHI1967 761.5362nd in NFL Central––––
Total[17]31814831.67164.600

Coaching tree

Several former players and assistant coaches of Halas have gone on to their own careers in coaching, and are recognized under his coaching tree: [22]

Players who also served as assistants

Players

Assistants

(*) indicates a former HC who later served as an assistant coach to Halas.

Impact on football
Antonio Pierce of the New York Giants holding up the Halas trophy

A pioneer both on and off the field, Halas made the Bears the first team to hold daily practice sessions, to analyze film of opponents to find weaknesses and means of attack, place assistant coaches in the press box during games, place tarp on the field, publish a club newspaper, and to broadcast games by radio.[23] He also offered to share the team's substantial television income with teams in smaller cities, firmly believing that what was good for the league would ultimately benefit his own team. A firm disciplinarian, Halas maintained complete control of his team and did not tolerate disobedience and insubordination by players. He also insisted on absolute integrity and honesty in management, believing that a handshake was sufficient to finalize a deal; few, if any, intermediaries were necessary.

Halas's career ledger reads as follows: 63 years as an owner, 40 as a coach, 324 wins, and 8 NFL titles as a coach or owner. His 324 victories stood as an NFL record for nearly three decades, and are still far and away the most in Bears history; they are three times that of runner-up Ditka.[23] He was a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

Other pro sports ventures

Chicago Bruins
Main article: Chicago Bruins

In 1925 Halas tipped his hand in pro basketball, when he help to create the first professional basketball league in the United States – the American Basketball League – as the owner of the Chicago Bruins. The team played six seasons before folding following the 1930-31 season because the Great Depression.[24]

The Bruins struggled during their existence, failing to reach the playoffs in every season, but featured several notable names, including two Hall of Famers in player-coach Honey Russell and Nat Holman who played for half a season in 1926. Other notable players included Bears quarterback Laurie Walquist, Robert J. Dunne, Slim Shoun and Chicago Cardinals back Ike Mahoney.[24]

Halas revived the team for four more seasons, 1939 to 1942, and played in the National Basketball League (NBL) and in the World Professional Basketball Tournament. This time around the Bruins were more successful, reaching the World Professional Basketball Tournament finals in 1940, losing to the Harlem Globetrotters 31–29. Notable players were Wibs Kautz, Bill Hapac and Ralph Vaughn. In their second incarnation the team played in the Chicago Coliseum.

Akron Bears

In 1946, Halas launched the Akron Bears of the American Football League as the Chicago Bears' minor league affiliate.[25] The launch was an attempt to interfere with the territorial rights of the Cleveland Browns, a team in the NFL rival All-America Football Conference (AAFC); Akron is located just 30 miles from Cleveland.

The team was coached by former NFL player Gene Ronzani and had notable players like quarterback George Gulyanics, Ed Ecker, Lloyd Reese, Raymond Schumacher and Jack Karwales. The Bears were successful on the field—including reaching the league final before losing 14–13 to the Jersey City Giants—but lost at the box office a sum of $52,000, partly because they had large traveling expenses as most of the league team were located on the East Coast. The team did not return for a second season.

Honors

In both 1963 and 1965, Halas was selected by The Sporting News, the AP and the UPI as the NFL Coach of the Year. In 1997, he was featured on a U.S. postage stamp as one of the legendary coaches of football. He has been recognized by ESPN as one of the ten most influential people in sports in the 20th century, and as one of the greatest coaches. In 1993, Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula finally surpassed Halas' victory total. To this day, the jerseys of the Chicago Bears bear the initials "GSH" on their upper left sleeves in commemoration of Halas. In 1956, Halas was awarded the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, which is the Navy's highest civilian award.[16]

There are two extant awards named for Halas: the George Halas Trophy (awarded by the NFL to the National Football Conference champion) and the George S. Halas Courage Award (Pro Football Writers Association). From 1966 to 1996, the George S. Halas Trophy was awarded to the NFL defensive player of the year by the Newspaper Enterprise Association.

The Chicago Bears retired number 7 in his honor, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame is located on George Halas Drive.

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign inducted Halas into the Engineering Hall of Fame in 2016.[26]

Later life
Halas (right) with Pete Rozelle in the early 1980s

After the 1967 season, Halas—then the oldest coach in league history—retired as coach. He continued as the team's principal owner, and took an active role in team operations until his death. He was honored in 1970 and 1980 as the only person involved in the league throughout its first 50 and 60 years of existence. His son George, Jr. served as president of the Bears from 1963 until his sudden death at age 54 in 1979. One of Halas's final significant ownership acts was to hire Mike Ditka as head coach in 1982 (Ditka had been a Halas player in the 1960s).

In the 1971 made-for-television film Brian's Song, about the friendship between Chicago Bears players Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers, Halas was portrayed by Jack Warden, who won an Emmy Award for his performance.

Death

Halas died of pancreatic cancer in Chicago on October 31, 1983, at age 88, and is entombed in St. Adalbert Catholic Cemetery in Niles, Illinois. At the time of his death, he was the last surviving participant of the meeting that formed the NFL in 1920.

His eldest daughter, Virginia Halas McCaskey, succeeded him as majority owner, and her son Michael McCaskey served as team president from 1983–1999 at which time the elder McCaskey was forced to fire her own son. In the 1985 season when the Bears won their only Super Bowl (and post-merger NFL championship), they recorded a song called "Super Bowl Shuffle." In the song, backup quarterback Steve Fuller rhymes "Bring on Atlanta, Bring on Dallas / This is for Mike [then-current coach Mike Ditka] and Papa Bear Halas."

Super Bowl XVIII was dedicated to Halas. The pregame ceremonies featured a moment of silence and the ceremonial coin toss by former Chicago Bear Bronko Nagurski. The missing-man formation over Tampa Stadium, performed by airplanes from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida at the conclusion of Barry Manilow's performance of the National Anthem, was also presented in tribute to Halas.

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See also

References
  1. Davis, Jeff, Papa Bear, (McGraw-Hill Co., 2005), 32.
  2. Encyclopedia of ethnicity and sports in the United States, Ed. George B. Kirsch, Othello Harris and Claire Elaine Nolte, (Greenwood Publishing, 2000), 164.
  3. Elliott J. Gorn, Sports in Chicago, (University of Illinois Press, 2008), 7.
  4. Twombly, Wells (1976). 200 Years of Sport in America. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 186. ISBN 0-07-065640-1.
  5. Gloria Cooksey, George Halas: An entry from Gale's Notable Sports Figures 2004.
  6. https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/halas-george-Stanley
  7. "ITB: Halas escapes Eastland Disaster". Chicago Bears. October 29, 2013. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
  8. Names, Larry D (1987). "The Myth". In Scott, Greg (ed.). The History of the Green Bay Packers: The Lambeau Years. 1. Angel Press of WI. p. 31. ISBN 0-939995-00-X.
  9. U.S. House III, 1957, p. 2714.
  10. "Evolution of the Bears Colors". National Football League. September 13, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  11. Marines Are Swamped By Great Stars :Minneapolis Team Swept Off Their Feet by Crack Hammond Eleven. (October 27, 1919). Minneapolis Morning Tribune (1909–1922),10. Retrieved September 2, 2010, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Minneapolis Tribune (1867–1922). (Document ID: 1513834502).
  12. "George Stanley Halas (Papa Bear)". Staley Museum.
  13. "Decatur stars oppose Driscoll". The Dispatch. December 20, 1920. Retrieved May 23, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. Halas, George S. (August 9, 2015). "From Decatur to NFL, with Potholes Along Way". Chicago Tribune.
  15. Rosenthal, Gregg (June 6, 2013). "Pro Football Hall of Famers who fought on D-Day". National Football League. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  16. U.S. House III, 1957, p. 2713.
  17. "George Halas Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  18. U.S. House III, 1957, p. 2720.
  19. "Happy Birthday George Halas". Chicago Bears. January 31, 2014. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  20. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. The following source differs from Pro-Football-Reference.com and states that the record was 10–1–1 for 1921: Vass, George (1971). "The Bears Find a Den". George Halas and the Chicago Bears. Henry Regnery Company. p. 44. ISBN 0809295970.
  22. "George Halas' coaching tree, legacy".
  23. "Bears coaching history". Chicago Bears. January 14, 2013. Archived from the original on August 7, 2017. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  24. Mayer, Larry (February 19, 2020). "Halas was a pro basketball pioneer as well". Chicago Bears. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  25. "Papa Bear's Nightmare" (PDF).
  26. "2016 Hall of Fame - Illinois Engineering". engineering.illinois.edu.

Further reading
  • Davis, Jeff (2006). Papa Bear: The Life and Legacy of George Halas. ISBN 0-07-147741-1.
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