George Halas “Who do we play next week?”

This post was published in Halas Chapter of Pillars of the NFL by Patrick McCaskey and is Copyright Sporting Chance Press:

George Halas “Who do we play next week?”

 George Halas stands up and stretches out in the Soldier Field stands on the evening of August 2, 1963. He is wearing a light grey summer suit and felt fedora. He is also wearing a smile. The College All-Stars have just played the NFL champion Green Bay Packers in the annual charity game. It did not go Green Bay’s way. The All-Stars won by a score of 20–17.

 Papa Bear stands next to his coaches who have watched the game with him and he looks behind him at a row of seats occupied by family members including several grandchildren. He sees the happy faces and he knows that they are aware of the importance of a Packers’ loss, any Packers’ loss. Halas rubs his hands together enthusiastically and says in a loud voice: This is very encouraging. George (Mugs) Halas, Jr. chuckles in response to his father’s comment. He knows it will not be easy to knock the Packers from the NFL championship perch they have held for 2 years, but he also knows that if anyone is up to it, it is his father.

In a few seconds, all the grandkids present are up and hopping about anxious to get back home. Halas’s daughter, Virginia McCaskey, and her husband Ed, stand and gather their kids together for the trek to their cars. Football excites the entire family and the McCaskeys love to spend time with their busy grandfather. The 68-year-old Bears’ coach and owner carries himself like a much younger man. He has a great attitude for any age. As he walks along, he reaches out to the kids with his big hands and tousles a head of hair here and gives a shoulder a squeeze there.

 When the McCaskeys reach the parking area, they wave to Uncle Mugs who gives them a beep of the horn as he pulls away. The grandchildren say their goodbyes to Grandpa before they find their seats in the family cars. Papa Bear jumps into another car that takes him up through the Chicago Loop to his apartment home along Lake Michigan. He reviews the game in his head and thinks about the Bears’ prospects for the coming season. He repeats to himself: “This is very encouraging.” 

Halas Illustration from Pillars of The NFL
by Bill Potter, Copyright 2014

Each chapter in Pillars of the NFL starts out with a "you are there" feature that brings to reader into the world of the coach.