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The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. 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 the second-most victories of any NFL franchise, only behind the Green Bay Packers.
Buffalo, New York had a turbulent, early-era National Football League team that operated under multiple names and several different owners between the 1910s and 1920s. The early NFL-era franchise was variously called the Buffalo All-Stars from 1915 to 1917, Buffalo Niagaras in 1918, the Buffalo Prospects in 1919, Buffalo All-Americans from 1920 to 1923, Buffalo Bisons from 1924 to 1925 and in 1927 and 1929, and the Buffalo Rangers in 1926. The franchise, which was experiencing financial problems in 1928, did not participate in league play that season.
The Rock Island Independents were a professional American football team, based in Rock Island, Illinois, from 1907 to 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."
George Stanley Halas Sr., nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was an American professional football player, coach, and team owner. He was the founder and owner of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL), and served as his own head coach on four occasions. He was also lesser-known as a player for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Duce Staley is an American football coach and former player who is the assistant head coach and running backs coach for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served in the same capacity with the Detroit Lions during the 2021 and 2022 NFL seasons, and with the Philadelphia Eagles in various assistant coaching roles from 2011 to 2020.
Walter Andrew Kiesling was an American football guard and tackle who spent 36 years as a player, coach, and aide with National Football League (NFL) teams. He was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and was named to the NFL 1920s All-Decade Team in 1969.
Lucas Staley is an American former college football running back who played for the BYU Cougars. Staley was a consensus All-American and received the Doak Walker Award as the best college running back in the nation in 2001. He was selected by the Detroit Lions in the seventh round of the 2002 NFL Draft, but he suffered a career-ending knee injury before appearing in a regular season pro football game.
George Edward Trafton was an American professional football player and coach, boxer, boxing manager, and gymnasium proprietor. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1964 and was also selected in 1969 as the center on the NFL 1920s All-Decade Team.
Berlin Guy "Champ" Chamberlin, sometimes misspelled Guy Chamberlain, was an American professional football player and coach. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1962 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965. He was also named in 1969 to the NFL 1920s All-Decade Team.
Anthony Q. Thompson is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Indiana Hoosiers and was selected in the second round of the 1990 NFL Draft. He later became a pastor at the Lighthouse Community Church in Bloomington, Indiana.
Joseph Andrew Staley is an American former football offensive tackle who played his entire career for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Central Michigan and was drafted by the 49ers in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft.
Walter Ree Holmer was an American football player and coach. He played professionally as a quarterback and running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, Boston Redskins, and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Holmer served as the head football coach at Boston University from 1942 to 1946 and at Colby College from 1947 to 1950.
Kenneth Wilbur Huffine was a professional football player-coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1920 until 1925. During that time, he played for the Muncie Flyers, Chicago Staleys and the Dayton Triangles. He was a member of the Staleys' 1921 Championship team. The Staleys were renamed the Chicago Bears in 1922. Ken also played with the independent Fort Wayne Friars in 1920, alongside the legendary Jim Thorpe.
Douglas Park is a public park located at 18th Avenue and 10th Street in Rock Island, Illinois.
The 1919 Decatur Staleys season was the first in the team's long existence, later becoming known as the Chicago Bears. It was also the only season in which the Staleys/Bears were an amateur team, not a member of the National Football League or managed by George Halas. The 1919 Staleys were a works team, made up purely of regular A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company employees, and finished with a 6–1 record to win the Central Illinois Championship.
The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons.
Walter Orel May was an American football guard who played one season for the Decatur Staleys in the American Professional Football Association (APFA). He attended and played football at Taylorville High School.
Walter John Zirinsky was an American football halfback who was a member of the Cleveland Rams team that won the 1945 NFL Championship.
Walter Stanley Szot was an American football tackle who played five seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers. He was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals in the 18th round of the 1944 NFL Draft. He played prep football at East Rutherford High School in his hometown of East Rutherford, New Jersey and played college football for the Bucknell Bison.
Brett Veach is an American football executive who is the general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Prior to being the Chiefs general manager, he was the Chiefs' co-director of player personnel. He began his career as an assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2004, eventually moving up and becoming a scout.