George Halas
George Halas was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States on February 2nd, 1895 and is the Football Player. At the age of 88, George Halas biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 88 years old, George Halas has this physical status:
George Stanley Halas Sr. (February 2, 1895 to 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr.
"All" was a player, coach, and owner of professional American football.
He was the founder, owner, and head coach of the Chicago Bears in the National Football League.
He was also known as a New York Yankees Major League Baseball player. Halas was one of the foundings of the National Football League (NFL) in 1920 and 1963, he was one of the first 17 inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Later life
Halas, the longest coach in league history, has resigned as coach after the 1967 season. He stayed as the team's primary owner and continued to make the team's football decisions until hiring Jim Finks as the team's general manager in 1974. He continued to play a vital part in team activities until his death. He was honoured in 1970 and 1980 as the only one to play in the league for the first 50 and 60 years of existence. George, Jr., the Bears' president from 1963 to his death in 1979 at the age of 54. One of Halas' last major ownership decisions was to hire Mike Ditka as head coach in 1982 (Ditka had been a Halas player in the 1960s). He had won 6 NFL championships before retiring.
Halas was portrayed by Jack Warden in the 1971 made-for-television film Brian's Song, about the friendship between Chicago Bears players Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers.
Early life and sports career
Halas was born in Chicago, Illinois, to a family of Czech-Bohemian immigrants. Barbara (Poledna), a grocery store owner, and Frank Halas, a tailor, were both immigrants from Pilsen, Austria-Hungary. George had a diverse career in sports. Halas served for Western Electric for a short time, and he was planning to travel on the SS Eastland. He was running late, but it was because he was attempting to gain weight to play Big Ten football and missed the capsizing, which killed 844 passengers. Since 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. He has also become a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. He helped Illinois win the 1918 Big Ten Conference football championship.
He served in the Navy during WWII and was named the MVP of the 1919 Rose Bowl. Halas was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 2018 in honor of his Rose Bowl appearances. Halas, a member of Paddy Driscoll and Jimmy Conzelman, scored a touchdown and returned an intercepted pass 77 yards in a 17–0 victory over the Mare Island Marines of California, and was also rewarded with military discharges.
Halas continued playing minor league baseball, eventually earning a call to the New York Yankees, where he played 12 games as an outfielder in 1919. However, a hip injury ended his baseball career, effectively ending his career. Halas claimed that Babe Ruth had been named as the Yankees' right fielder, but in fact, it was Sammy Vick. Halas played for the Hammond Pros for a year, earning $75 per game.
Halas married Wilhelmina "Minnie" Bushing, who died in 1966, on February 18, 1922.
Professional football career
Halas joined the Pros (also known as the All-Stars) in Decatur, Illinois, to work with the A. E. Staley Company, a starch manufacturer. He served as a company sales rep, an outfielder on the company-sponsored baseball team, and as the team's player-coach. Halas matched the team's uniforms in orange and navy blue, choosing orange and navy blue for his alma mater's colors. Halas played for the Staleys in 1920 in Canton, Ohio, at the founding of the American Professional Football Association (which later became the NFL in 1922). Halas and his teammates George Trafton, Hub Shoemaker, and Hugh Blacklock joined the Chicago Stayers for a December 19 match against the Chicago Cardinals, marking the only time Halas will face an NFL team other than the Staleys/Bears. The game ended in a 14-14 draw.
Despite a 10–1–2 record, the Staleys ended the season awash in red ink. The Staleys' financial difficulties didn't stop Halas from significantly expanding the roster to the point that it was a work team in name only. The team's founder and namesake Augustus E. Staley left the team to Halas after the first game of the 1921 season in order to relocate the team to Chicago, where the team's largest gates of the 1920 season had been established in Chicago. Halas received a $5,000 reward for his move to Chicago if he kept the Staleys brand name for the 1921 season. Halas then took on Edward "Dutch" Sternaman as a partner. The recently licensed "Chicago Staleys" opened a shop in Cubs Park, soon to be known as Wrigley Field; Halas had a positive relationship with Chicago Cubs owner William Wrigley Jr. and president Bill Veeck Sr. The Staleys juggled their schedule to win their first NFL championship of the year. Halas renamed his team the "Chicago Bears" the following year. Years later, he recalled that he wanted to find a name for the Cubs that would give them a nod. "If baseball players are cubs, then football players must be bears," the narrator said, citing the fact that football players were much larger than baseball players.
Halas was not only the team's coach, but also played end (wide receiver on offense, defensive end on defense), and managed ticket sales and the company's business. In a 1923 game when he stripped Jim Thorpe of the ball, recovered the ball, and returned it 98 yards, a record that has not been held until 1972. Halas begged Illinois star Red Grange to join the Bears in 1925; it was a major step in establishing both the respectability and popularity of the sport, which had previously been seen as a haven for less popular players.
Halas retired from football in 1930, serving as a player and teaching assistant at Lake Forest Academy Ralph Jones; but the team's owner remained the team's owner since 1932. However, the Bears were still in dire financial hardships as a result of Jones' 1932 call to the NFL championship. Halas returned as a coach in 1933 to avoid the additional expense of paying a head coach's salary. For another ten seasons, he coached the Bears. His 1934 team was undefeated until losing in the championship match against the New York Giants.
Halas, along with University of Chicago coach Clark Shaughnessy, perfected the T-formation system to produce a unique and unforgettable style of play, leading to the Bears' victory over the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL Championship Game, arguably the most lopsided margin of victory in NFL history. Every other team in the league immediately started trying to imitate the style. In 1941, the Bears became NFL champions again, and the 1940s would be remembered as the "Monsters of the Midway" era.
Halas and Shaughnessy had invented the T-formation offense, which was a revolutionary idea. The scheme's intricate spins, turns, fakes, and all-around athletic flexibility that must be used to carry out the plan limited the prospective participants. In Sid Luckman, a passing star at Columbia University, Halas believed he'd found the right quarterback for his new offense. The luckman was a single wing tailback; the tailback was the primary runner and passer in that scheme. Luckman began his Hall of Fame service as a quarterback for the Bears from 1939 to 1950. Halas was not happy with other players who took place under center after Luckman's name was not satisfied. Bobby Layne, 1949 and George Blanda, both played on the Bears' roster from 1948 to 1958, during his coaching career. Johnny Lujack from 1948 to 1951, as well as Zeke Bratkowski from 1954 to 1960, were two other notable players. Blanda played for football until 1975; Bratkowski played for the Los Angeles Rams until 1963, where he appeared as "super sub" to starter Bart Starr in three straight NFL championship games, winning two of them.
Halas returned to the Navy after World War II in 1942, with the rank of lieutenant commander. He served overseas for 20 months under Admiral Chester Nimitz' command. He was in charge of the Seventh Fleet's welfare and recreational activities. During his recall and removal from service in 1946 with the rank of captain, he was named Bronze Star. Despite Halas' service in the Navy, the Bears won another championship in 1943 under Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnsos. He played for the club for a third decade, winning a trophy in his first year as coach. Halas spoke with Army Chief of Staff, Admiral Chester Nimitz, and Air Force Chief of Staff, General Carl Spaatz, in the same year, and said they would organize an annual charity football game, with the Bears as hosts, and the proceeds would go to the armed forces' relief services. This game's proceeds, which included all games the Bears played between 1946 and 1957, were over $2 million by mid-1957.
He returned as head coach for the final decade (1958 to 1967) after a brief break in 1956–57. Despite winning his sixth and final league title in 1963, he did not have the same success before the war and was officially retired on May 27, 1968. He won his 200th game in 1950 and his 300th game in 1965, making him the first coach to reach both milestones. With Curly Lambeau of Green Bay and Bill Belichick of New England later this year, his six NFL Championships as a head coach are tied for the longest all time. He had only three losing seasons in 40 years as a coach, three of which occurred during his last stint.