For anyone who has happened across this page by accident, it is intended to become part of Friars article on Chicago (if I ever finish it).

The Chicago Bears story actually started in Decatur, Illinois in 1920. It was then that the Staley Starch Company decided to sponsor a professional football team. Accordingly, on September 17, 1920, their representative George Halas signed up to join the American Professional Football Association¹. The franchise fee was $100 (which apparently no-one ever paid!).

The Decatur Staleys played their first game on 3rd October 1920 and beat Moline 20 - 0. There were no official standings for the 1920 season but the Akron Pros were awarded the championship ahead of the Staleys in second place. The Staleys record was W10 - L1 -T2², including 10 shutouts.

For the following year 1921, the Staley Starch Company gave Halas the team, $5,000 and permission to move the team to Chicago if he would agree to keep the Staleys name for a year. The Chicago Staleys played at Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team and won the 1921 league. Their record for their first championship was W9 - L1 - T1. A year later, the team was renamed the Chicago Bears.

Papa Bear

The history of the Chicago Bears is forever inextricably linked with the name of George Halas, universally known as 'Papa Bear'.

A former University of Illinois end under Bob Zupke, Halas had been the player of the 1919 Rose Bowl game and had then signed for the Hammond, Indiana team. In 1920, Halas was employed by AE Staley to represent his interests at the historic first meeting in a Hupmobile car showroom in Canton, Ohio. His memories of that first meeting were 'It was a hot day and we sat there drinking beer from buckets while we tried to plan the future of professional football', there weren't enough chairs so he sat on the running board of one of the showroom cars.

From then until his death on October 31, 1983 he served the Bears as an owner, player, coach, general manager, traveling secretary, and in virtually every other capacity imaginable. In the early days it is reported that 'he would carry the equipment around, write the press releases, sell tickets, then run across the road and buy tape and help the trainer tape the other players ankles.'

When he retired after the 1967 season, having split his 40-year coaching into four separate 10-year segments, he ranked as the all-time leader in coaching victories with 324³, a record that stood for 27 years.

The Early Years

From the very start, the Bears were one of pro football's most successful and innovative franchises. Nowhere was this more evident than in 1925 when Halas signed America's most famous college athlete, Harold 'Red' Grange for the astounding sum of $100,000. This was at a time when other players earned from $50 to a top of $200 per game.

A three-time All-American at the University of Illinois, Grange was a sensational runner who filled college stadiums wherever he played. In his debut for the Bears against the Chicago Cardinals on Thanksgiving Day 1925, a crowd of 36,000 filled Wrigley Field to see him perform.

To cash in on the nationwide publicity the Bears embarked on a tour of the country in December 1925. An eight-game 12-day tour of the East climaxed before a 73,000 crowd in New York's Polo Ground⁴ where the Bears beat the NY Giants 19-7. Following a weeks rest⁵, they set off on a nine-game tour of the South and West which culminated in a 17-7 Bears victory over the Los Angeles Tigers before more than 70,000 in the LA Coliseum.

During these 17 games over 400,000 fans had flocked to see Grange and the Bears. These tours were instrumental in establishing Professional Football in the nation's sporting awareness.

The following year Grange's agent, CC Pyle, demanded a five-figure salary for his client and when Halas refused, Grange left the Bears. He did return in 1929 and played through to 1934 but a knee injury had taken its toll and he was not the 'Galloping Ghost' of his earlier days, but more a defensive tackler.

Throughout the 1920's the Bears were a major force in Pro Football, and during the first 10 seasons of the League they finished in a top 3 position seven times. It was not until the 1929 season that they finished with a losing record⁶. Following this Halas resigned as coach, although he soon returned in 1933 when the Bears were in financial trouble - and as he said 'I came cheap.'

During this period the Bears had many famous and exciting players but none more so than Bronko Nagurski. Born November 1908 in Ontario to Ukranian immigrant parents, Bronko moved to Minnesota as a young boy and became a sensation playing at the University of Minnesota. When the 1928 college All-American team was selected, only ten starters were announced - Nagurski was named as both fullback and tackle! After he signed for the Bears he played fullback, offensive and defensive tackle, and linebacker in nearly every game.

Stories about the 'Bronk' are legion, two of the most telling quotes from the greatest players of his time are:-

'the toughest fullback I ever faced. If you hit him low, he'd run over you. If you hit him high, he'd knock you down and run over you.'

Mel Hein, New York Giants.

'My biggest thrill in football was the day he announced his retirement'

Clarke Hinkle, Green Bay Packers.

Playing schedules remained irregular with the final league positions sometimes decided by the decision of the league President or the team owners well after the season was finished. This situation was not standardised until 1932 when the first NFL Championship game was arranged for the end of the season.

The Bears and the Portsmouth (Ohio) Spartans were tied for first place and a playoff for the title was decreed. When a severe winter storm hit the Midwest the game was moved from Wrigley Field to the indoor Chicago Stadium which was primarily a hockey rink. The surface of the rink was still covered with dirt from a circus performance and the field of play had to be reduced to 80 yds by 145 ft. The Bears won the game 9-0 to record their second NFL Championship. This game was historically very important as it resulted in four major changes in the way football was played:-

• To move the Goal Posts to the goal line.
• To place the ball no less than 15 yards inbounds at the start of every scrimmage.
• To make a forward pass legal from anywhere behind the scrimmage line.
• Halas, as chairman of the NFL Rules Committee, joined with George Preston Marshall, then owner of the Boston Braves, to convince the league to split into two divisions with the winners of each playing for the Championship.