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Kelly from Kaneohe, Hawaii
Is it true that the NFL was meeting, that some people wanted to leave Green Bay and that the Bears were getting up and asking that both teams be invited?
No.
The American Professional Football Association was established in 1920 and one of the founding members of the Decatur Staleys. Two years later, the APFA becomes the National Football League and the Staleys become the Chicago Bears. Meanwhile, Green Bay was admitted to the AFFA while the league's membership increased from 14 to 21 in 1921.
To clarify, the Packers are a year older than the Bears as they started as a semi-independent team in 1919. It's the Packers' 100th season, but only their 98th in the NFL. The NFL begins its 99th season, as do the Bears.
In 1920, Decatur had a population of nearly 44,000, about 13,000 more than Green Bay. Starch manufacturing company Staley sponsors the Staleys and George Halas leads the team. A year later, the Staleys played in Chicago, except for one, under the name of "The Staley Football Club".
At the start of the season, Staley asked Halas to move his operations base to Chicago, telling him that for a professional football team to survive, it had to be located in a big city. Presumably, Halas understood this himself and was skeptical about the future of Green Bay when he obtained a franchise on August 27, 1921.
From there, the story took a decisive turn when Green Bay was kicked out of the league after using three University of Notre Dame players under alleged names – all with college eligibility – in Milwaukee on December 4, against the Legion of Racine. At a time when many considered professional football a maleficent threat to college football, the incident escalated into a national scandal.
On January 28, 1922, in Canton, Ohio, the meeting was held during which the Packers were kicked off after a single season.
More than 60 years later, Larry Names published the first of four books on the history of the Packers and devoted several pages to the scandal, most of which were whimsical absurdities that he had simply concocted without evidence.
The names have written that the Packers used the ineligible players in a match against the Staleys (soon to be Bears), credited the Chicago Tribune with breaking the news and, unthinkable as it may seem, declared that Halas was author not only of Tribune. initial story but all articles written on the Staleys in all Chicago newspapers this season. In summary, the names concluded that it was Halas who led the charge to expel the Packers from the league while he had received a new franchise "without hesitation" at the same meeting.
It's pure poppycock. Even worse, other writers and writers in Packers' history have shamelessly repeated it over the years, trying to make it look like a serious search.
Here is the real backdrop.
The Racine Journal-News unveiled the story the day after the match and correctly identified two of the three players of Notre Dame. "Green Bay has several men from this year's Association with her," noted the News-News in its December 5 story. Racine also used a player from Notre Dame, but he was a senior.
What did the Chicago Tribune write about the game? Nothing. His Monday edition included a five-paragraph story about the Buffalo Staleys' victory, mostly one-paragraph stories about six other local football games and a 21-score list under the title "Football Results." The game Green Bay-Racine ended in a draw 3-3, did not even deserve a line in the scores.
On December 9, five days after the match, the Notre Dame Athletic Committee met and addressed the problem when he learned that "four stars of Notre Dame had played professional ball the previous Sunday" (on the 4th December, the green day). Bay-Racine Game). This information was duly recorded in the minutes of the meeting, which is still kept in the archives of the University of Notre Dame in the Hesburgh Library.
On Monday, December 12th, the board of directors met again and expelled the three players who had been produced for the Packers. The South Bend Tribune reported the news for the first time the next day in an article on the front page. The newspaper noted that the players played "on the Green Bay Packers professional team in Milwaukee, Wis., Sunday … against an American Legion (sicThe Chicago Tribune also reported on these developments for the first time on December 13, in a six-paragraph story submitted by Notre Dame, Ind.
A day later, Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne, who was absent from the December 9 meeting according to the minutes, criticized professional football and accused it of ruining the match at the university. Finally, on December 15, Frank Smith, sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, in his column "Straight From The Shoulder" implored NFL President Joe Carr to act and ban Green Bay from the league.
Smith was hardly a candidate for Halas to crush his personal columns. Smith had been with the Tribune since 1912, except for the time he served in France and Germany as a Second Lieutenant in the First World War. In addition, Halas was still living in Decatur and had not yet made friends with Don Maxwell who would end up giving the Bears more than a token cover in the sports pages of the newspaper.
On the morning of January 28, 1922, the Tribune published another front-page article on a semi-professional game played on November 27, 1921 between two small towns in Illinois, Carlinville and Taylorville. The game was played on the same day as the Packers-Staleys game at Cubs Park, arousing such passion that it caused a $ 100,000 bet and mostly brawlers from the University of Illinois and Notre Dame under pseudonyms.
The news surprised Rockne. "The three men of Notre Dame, Heartley Anderson, Fred Larson and Arthur Garvey, who were suspended in December, had played in Milwaukee with the Green Bay Packers," said Rockne. "I do not know anything about the match in Taylorville, but I will start an investigation immediately." Within 10 days, Rockne and others in college football began to advocate the abolition of professional football.
It was the shooting of the charges under which the APFA met later the same day in Canton. As a result, J. Emmett Clair, who had obtained the Green Bay franchise five months earlier, offered to withdraw from the league. Halas agreed to accept Clair's offer, according to the minutes, and his motion was passed.
It seems, however, that Halas has greater concerns than the future of the Green Bay franchise. At that time, he was not even sure to keep his own team and his proposal was certainly not accepted in a moment, as Names claimed.
Owners and executives of the NFL apparently spent much more time debating the ownership issue of the new Chicago Bears. Prior to the 1921 season, Halas sued Ohio State's Chic Harley and other Buckeyes, and agreed to share his profits with Bill Harley, Chic's brother who was negotiating. In January, Bill Harley went to Canton and claimed that he was an equal owner with Halas and another partner, Dutch Sternaman.
"I had no idea what problem I was creating for myself," Halas said of his decision to cut Harleys' profits. The reality was when other club owners sought a solution at the Canton meeting.
"The members debated all day and in the evening," wrote Halas in his book, "Halas by Halas: The Autobiography of George Halas". "Finally, they decided to vote for Sternaman and myself or Bill Harley, eight voted for us, two for Harley.
While the APFA minutes show that Halas has officially moved to end Green Bay's membership and that Carr has credited the Chicago Tribune for the league that took action, two Quad Cities newspapers said the Rock Island's manager was Walter Muran. "Flannigan (sicThe head fight against Green Bay, which resulted in the expulsion of packers, was the title of Davenport Democrat's story and Leader on the meeting. Interestingly, Carr has also appointed Sternaman, not Halas, to investigate the Carlinville-Taylorville scandal on behalf of the league.
In fact, Halas' most generous opening to the Packers in their first season of the championship was when he simply agreed to play them, though he apparently did so for selfish reasons, and not by the kindness of his heart. Anyway, playing the Staleys in what was later renamed Wrigley Field was a lifeline for the Packers.
In 1921, there was no schedule of the league. Teams fought for planning, and small towns sometimes struggled to find opponents. For example, the Packers played six games that year, while the Staleys, Buffalo, Akron and Canton all played 10 games or more. Three of the six Packers games were scheduled the week before their match.
Although Green Bay management began talks with the Staleys at the end of August, Halas did not take part in any matches until November 22, five days before the start of the match. "Dreams come true," so is the Green Bay Press Gazette hailed the deal.
Meanwhile, the Staleys were to play at Cubs Park during Thanksgiving against Buffalo, as part of the battle for the "National Championship of Professional Football".
Halas was looking for wins to strengthen his claim to the title. What Green Bay was looking for was the exhibition.
Both had what they wanted.
The Staleys beat the Packers, 20-0, and won the championship with a 9-1-1 record, just ahead of Buffalo, who finished 9-1-2. But Chicago fans and writers noticed that the Packers were accompanied by a makeshift band and about 500 fans who walked from Chicago Station to Loop to Cubs Park. in the pros.
The entire league also took note, and there is no doubt that Green Bay received another franchise less than five months after the launch.
Bill from Buffalo Grove, IL
It was said that there was a video, a television production, about the history of the Bears where it was claimed that Halas had saved the Packers from financial ruin at the beginning or for decades of the franchise. Is there a truth to that?
First, there is no doubt that Halas was a great friend of the Packers and without the Bears, the Packers would never have survived. So, do not take it badly, but Halas was a best friend of the Packers when it came to his own financial interests. Let's not forget Mike Ditka's famous quote about Papa Bear: "He throws nickels as if they were looking plates."
Here is a brief chronology that helps to tell this story.
1922 – Despite attracting 7,000 people for what is now recognized as the Packers-Bears' first game a year earlier, Halas asked for a $ 4,000 guarantee when he was invited to play Green Bay. So there was no Packers-Bears game in 1922. "The effort to bring the Chicago Bears back here on Turkey Day fell flat," the press reported in mid-November. "The Chicago team is moving into the Cubs Park and Director Halas is not looking forward to leaving his" gold mine "and coming here."
1926 – The Packers-Bears games are becoming a great success and Halas agrees to play three games a year against his budding rival. After only two games in 1927, the Packers and Bears competed three times each season from 1928 to 1933 with two of the games played in Chicago.
1950-51 – NFL absorption of three teams from All-America Football Conference – Cleveland, San Francisco and Baltimore – Realignment talks follow plan to force Bears and Chicago Cardinals to change conference every year. The 13 members also discussed the creation of a swing team, which would play all other teams once. The Packers, struggling for their survival, opposed any project that would deprive them of their annual home game against the Bears. Almost always sold out or nearby, the Bears game was essential to the survival of the Packers before the money from television began to flow. Nevertheless, in January 1951, Halas voted, according to the league's minutes, for his Bears and Cardinals to change from year to year, in part because he was losing revenue in the obsolete City Stadium. This would have resulted in no Packers-Bears game in Green Bay at least every two years. If Halas had obtained the votes to support his plan, it could have been the disappearance of the Packers. During this period, Halas also started giving the Packers tips to play one of their regular season games in Milwaukee instead of Green Bay.
1956 – The weekend before the referendum on the construction of the current Lambeau Field, Halas went to Green Bay and implored his citizens to vote yes. His speech at a public rally contributed to the successful referendum on the stadium in a landslide.
Ross from Seattle, WA
The Staleys / Bears have won nine NFL championships compared to the Packers 13. Yet, the Bears have even more selections at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 28 to 25. What do you think of that? Does politics come into play?
According to the letters exchanged in the research center of the Professional Football Hall of Fame, I think that those who created the hall in the early 1960s depended a lot on Halas for his opinions and perhaps had even not contacted Curly Lambeau.
I do not argue with any of the members of the Bears group. For example, they have eight compared to the seven Packers of the 1930s and 40s, which is not irrelevant. These were the Monsters of the Midway years.
But I have two oxen.
One is the absence of Verne Lewellen and, to a lesser extent, Lavvie Dilweg of the 1920s. Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun, the co-founders of the Packers, both chose Lewellen as one four backs of their Packers teams. Charlie Mathys, who has been associated with the Packers for nearly 60 years as a player and board member, has included Lewellen in a discussion about the greatest Packer of all time and called it a "joke". Johnny Blood, a member of the Charter Hall of Fame, said that Lewellen should have been enthroned before him.
The Bears have a 6-on-1 advantage over the Inductees of the 1920s.
Here is another indicator that voters in the room are not aware of the history of the first Packers. Halas has been inducted as a finalist, coach and owner. Lambeau is listed as a coach only in this year's Hall of Fame biographies, in the 2018 NFL Record & Fact Book. Lambeau was certainly equal to Halas as a player and probably had even more impressive credentials to be inducted as a player.
Jeff from Green Bay
In 1968, the Bears defeated the Packers, 13-10, on a free kick. Was it the last successful free kick?
The NFL rules state that after a free kick, the receiving team may try a free kick, essentially a goal attempt on the field without haste. On November 3, 1968, at Lambeau Field, Mac Percival converted a 43-yard free-kick with 32 seconds to play for the Bears' three-point win. Four years earlier, in Green Bay, Paul Hornung had a free kick against the Bears.
I understand that there is no official record of free-kicks, but Wikipedia, whatever the value, attributes to Ray Wersching the title of shooter of the San Diego Chargers in 1976., but he fell just short.
Kathy from Franksville, WI
We have been talking about quarterbacks since 1992. I consider the Packers as having only two: Favre and Rodgers. The guys claim that you have to include the Packers quarters that started when Rodgers was injured. What do you think?
Tom Fanning, from our communications department, tells me that the Bears have started 31 QB since 1992. Some of them have started getting hurt by another QB. So, yes, I think you have to count Don Majkowski (if you start with the first game of season 92), Matt Flynn, Seneca Wallace, Scott Tolzien and Brett Hundley.
Larry from Chicago, IL
The Bears have been in the league one year longer than the Packers, but have played 35 more games. Why?
As I mentioned earlier, when teams were responsible for their own schedules, it was easier for the Bears to schedule games. Playing in Chicago was more interesting than playing in Green Bay because a team could make more money. From 1920 to 266, the year before the NFL dropped most of its small town franchises, the Bears played 92 games while the Packers played 63.
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