Related Research Articles
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NFL Championships, including one Super Bowl, and hold the NFL record for the most enshrinees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the most retired jersey numbers. The Bears have also recorded more victories than any other NFL franchise.
The Hammond Pros from Hammond, Indiana played in the National Football League from 1920 to 1926 as a traveling team.
The Rock Island Independents were a professional American football team, based in Rock Island, Illinois, from 1907–1926. The Independents were a founding National Football League franchise. They hosted what has been retrospectively designated the First National Football League Game on September 26, 1920 at Douglas Park. The Independents were founded in 1907 by Demetrius Clements as an independent football club. Hence, the team was named the "Independents."
John Jacob "Jay" Berwanger was an American college football player and referee. He was the first winner of the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy in 1935 ; the trophy is awarded annually to the nation's most outstanding college football player. Berwanger was a star halfback for the Chicago Maroons football team of the University of Chicago, where he was known as the "one man football team". In 1936, Berwanger became the first player drafted into the National Football League (NFL) in its inaugural 1936 NFL Draft, although he did not play professionally.
The American Basketball League (ABL) was an early professional basketball league. During six seasons from 1925–26 to 1930–31, the ABL was the first attempt to create a major professional basketball league in the United States. Joseph Carr, who was, in 1925, the president of the recently founded, three year old National Football League, organized the ABL from nine of the best independent pro teams from the East and the Midwest. George Halas of the NFL Chicago Bears was the owner of the Chicago Bruins, and department store magnate Max Rosenblum, a part owner of the NFL's Cleveland Bulldogs, financed the Cleveland Rosenblums. Future NFL owner George Preston Marshall, the owner of a chain of laundries, was owner of the Washington Palace Five. Other teams were the Boston Whirlwinds, Brooklyn Arcadians, Buffalo Bisons, Detroit Pulaski Post Five, Fort Wayne Caseys, and Rochester Centrals. With the exception of 1927–28, the ABL season was divided into two halves, with the winner of the first half playing the winner of the second half for the championship. Five games into the 1926–27 season, the Original Celtics were admitted to replace the Brooklyn franchise, and won 32 of the remaining 37 games, then shifted to New York the following season.
George Stanley Halas Sr., 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.
Edward Francis Healey Jr. was an American football player. Regarded as one of the best linemen in the early days of the National Football League (NFL), Healey was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of its second induction class in 1964. He was also named in 1969 to the NFL 1920s All-Decade Team. In 1974, he was also inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Tate & Lyle Ingredients Americas LLC, formerly, A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company, is an American subsidiary of Tate & Lyle PLC and produces a range of starch products for the food, paper and other industries; high fructose corn syrup; crystalline fructose; and other agro-industrial products. The company was incorporated in 1906 as A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company by Augustus Eugene Staley.
William Eugene Bishop was an American football defensive lineman who played 10 seasons in the National Football League.
Sports in Chicago include many professional sports teams. Chicago is one of ten U.S. cities to have teams from the five major American professional team sports. Chicago has been named as the Best Sports City by Sporting News three times in 1993, 2006 and 2010.
The 1920 season was the Decatur Staleys 2nd in the National Football League, the first professional regular season of the franchise that would go on to be known as the Chicago Bears, and their first under head coach George Halas. competing in the newly formed American Professional Football Association. The team improved on their 6–1 record from 1919 to a 10–1–2 record and earning them a second-place finish in the team standings. The stars of the Staleys were Ed "Dutch" Sternaman, Jimmy Conzelman, and George Halas. Sternaman had a remarkable season with 11 rushing TDs, 1 receiving TDs, 4 field goals, and 3 PATs, totaling 87 points scored out of the Staleys' total of 164. Jimmy Conzelman ran for two scores and threw two more. Halas led the team in receiving scores with 2. In the last league game of the season, the Staleys needed a win versus Akron to have a chance at the title. Akron, predictably, played for a tie, achieved that, and won the first APFA title.
The 1929 season was the Chicago Bears' 10th in the National Football League. The team was unable to improve on their 7–5–1 record from 1928 and finished with a 4–9–2 record during head coach George Halas's final season. The showing earned them a ninth-place finish in the team standings their worst record to date with the club finishing only below .500. Halas would return to coach in a few years. The Bears' season started promising enough, with a 4–1–1 start. However, three of those wins were against the Minneapolis Red Jackets, a team that finished the season 1–9. The final 9 games represented the worst stretch in franchise history, as the Bears went 0–8–1 to finish the season. Few of the Bears losses were even close contests. They lost three times to Green Bay, all shutouts. They also lost three times to New York. Against the Chicago Cardinals, the Bears fought them to a 0–0 tie in the first meeting, but ran into an NFL record performance in the rematch. Ernie Nevers, the former All-America from Stanford and owner-coach-player of the defunct Duluth Eskimos, had the game of a lifetime against Chicago on Thanksgiving Day, November 28. Nevers rushed for an NFL record 6 touchdowns and added 4 PATs for an NFL record 40 points; 6 TDs and 40 points are both still records and among the oldest standing records in NFL history. The Bears were crushed 40–6, with Nevers scoring all the Cardinals' points. The inability of Chicago to compete with the top teams in the NFL may have been the catalyst for Halas to step down as player-coach and focus on his owner duties. Clearly, the Bears needed more talent at the "skill positions" as the Chicago backfield was mostly unchanged since the early 1920s. One bright spot was the emergence of End Luke Johnsos, who caught two touchdown passes late in the season. In addition, the legendary Red Grange rejoined the team and regained some of his earlier form.
Edward Sternaman, better known as Dutch, was an American player, coach, and owner in professional football for the NFL's Chicago Bears.
The 1943 season was the Chicago Bears' 24th in the National Football League. The team failed to match on their 11–0 record from 1942 and finished at 8–1–1, under temporary co-coaches Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnsos. On the way to winning the Western Division, the Bears were, yet again, denied a chance at an undefeated season by the defending champion Redskins in Washington. The Bears had their revenge in the NFL title game and defeated the Redskins at Wrigley Field to claim their sixth league title. It was their third championship in four years, establishing themselves as the pro football dynasty of the early 1940s.
The 1955 season was the Chicago Bears' 36th in the National Football League. The team matched on their 8–4 record from 1954 under head coach George Halas, repeating as the runner-up in the NFL's Western Conference. Chicago opened the season with three losses, then won eight of nine.
The 1957 season was the Chicago Bears' 38th in the National Football League. The team failed to improve on their 9–2–1 record from 1956 and finished with a 5–7 record under second-year head coach Paddy Driscoll, one year after making the championship game. The 47–7 loss in that game, coupled with a 5–7 season, compelled owner George Halas to reassign Driscoll in February and return as head coach in 1958.
The 1958 season was the Chicago Bears' 39th in the National Football League. The team improved on their 8–4 record from 1958 and finished with an 8–4 record under George Halas; the owner took over again as head coach in February for the reassigned Paddy Driscoll. Halas's team improved to a respectable second place tie.
Lawrence Wilfred Walquist was a professional American football player who played quarterback for nine seasons for the Chicago Bears. He was also the first-ever head coach for the Chicago Bruins of the American Basketball League.
Walter Henry Halas was an American baseball player and coach of American football, basketball, and baseball. He played college baseball at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1914 to 1916 as a pitcher for the Fighting Illini. Halas later pitched in minor league baseball for the Davenport Blue Sox, Moline Plowboys, and Rock Island Islanders of the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League. In 1924, he pitched a no-hitter for the Hanover Raiders of the Blue Ridge League.
References
- ↑ Mayer, Larry (February 19, 2020). "Halas was a pro basketball pioneer as well". Chicago Bears . Retrieved February 19, 2020.
 | This article about a basketball team in Illinois is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |