Talking Football Rivalry-- Part 3: Meet "Mr. Chicken"

As we get ready for that Bears-Packers rivalry coming up Thursday.  Now, that is a rivalry, but the Staleys-Independents one was as well.

"Mr. Chicken" turned out not to be Fred Chicken, but 6-foot-two, 200-pound lineman Harry Gunderson, who, like the 6-2, 230-pound George Trafton, played both offensive and defensive tackle.  This meant they would be lined up opposite each other for every play in the game.

And, they went at each other with much gusto.

Finally, bear the end of the first quarter, Gunderson was able to get past Trafton and tackled a Staleys running back behind  the line of scrimmage.  Trafton reacted by falling knees-first with all his weight on Gunderson's head.

Gunderson was knocked out and suffered a six-inch gash that would require about ninety stitches.

The rest of the game more resembled a mob scene with fans throwing rocks and bottles at Trafton.  It ended in a 0-0 tie.  Bears trainer  Andy Lotshaw put a gray sweatshirt over Trafton's jersey to hide his number and told him to run as fast as he could out of the stadium.

Did He Get Away?  --Cooter

Talking Football Rivalry, George Trafton Takes On "Mr. Chicken-- Part 2:

The Decatur Staleys (future Chicago Bears) and the Rock Island (Illinois) Independents clashed in two of the roughest games of 1920.  In the first one, Trafton sent four Independents off the field with injuries as the Quad City crowd booed.  The worst fate befell halfback Fred Chicken, who broke his leg when Trafton tackled him into a fence post near the field.

Three weeks later, the same two teams met again in Rock Island.  Gamblers -- who had started to turn their attention toward pro football after the baseball Black Sox scandal in the previous year got involved.

Bears owner, coach and right end George Halas sequestered his team across the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa, hoping to keep his players away from the gamblers.  But word got around that the smart betting money was on the Independents winning and Trafton being knocked out in the first quarter.

The only information they could get on the player who was to take George out was that he went by the name "Mr. Chicken,"

Most of the Bears honored Halas' directive and didn't bet.  But not George Trafton.  He took all his money and bet on his team and himself.

Was This "Mr. Chicken" Fred Chicken?  --DaCoot

Talking Football Rivalry: George Trafton, Chicago Bears-- Part 1

From the August 9, 2019, Chicago Tribune  "Ranking the Best Bears Players Ever:  #28 George Trafton"  by Will Larkin.

George Trafton (1896-1971)

I have been enjoying following this series.  Most of the names are familiar, but the really old ones are not.  I didn't really start liking pro football until 1975.  I had never heard of Mr. Trafton.

He played for the Chicago Bears at their beginning, when they were the Decatur Staleys and was with them for 12 seasons 1920-21, 1923-1932.  During this time Da Bears were 99-38-26.  He was signed out of Notre Dame where he played just one year and was on the famed Knute Rockne's 1919 team which went 9-0 and outscore opponents  229-47.

There was an interesting story in the article about him.

He ranks, according to the series, #28.  In the first year of the National Football League, then known as the American Professional Football Association, George Trafton set a standard for performance in a rivalry game that has yet to be matched 99 years later.

Who Was Mr. Chicken?  (Find Out Next Post.)  --Cooter

Deaths: Gene Wolf: Mr. Pringles and Science Fiction

GENE WOLFE (1931-2019)

From the May 2, , 2019, Chicago Tribune "Science-fiction writer with a literary touch" by  Harrison Smith, Washington Post.

"Gene Wolfe was an industrial engineer who helped devise the cooking  process  for Pringles, the stackable chip, then turned to fantasy and science-fiction writing to craft intricate, philosophically rich novels that explored faith, war and distant planets, died April 14 in Peoria, Illinois.  He was 87."

I never read any of his writings but am sure a fan of his Pringles.

He served as a combat engineer in the Korean War, an experience that left him shaken and startled by loud noises upon his return.

While working as an industrial engineer for Procter & Gamble, he developed the frying process for potato shingles that are used to make those delicious Pringles chips.  In time he came to resemble the cartoon figure on the cans, the broad-faced man with the bushy handlebar mustache.

Farmers Not Backing the New Time in 1919 (Daylight Savings)

From the April 24, 2019, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1919, 100 Years Ago.

"It is very evident that the new time arrangement, whereby an hour of  daylight is saved each day by the clocks being moved ahead one hour, is not approved by farmers,  and many of them are working with the sun,  instead of with the clock.

"Milk trains in some vicinities are leaving at the same old time, that is with the sun,  although an hour later by the clock, the farmers claiming that work cannot be accomplished an hour earlier in the morning.. The rural fol have other complaints to offer,  too, on the new arrangement, and it is probable that the majority of them will work on the old time."

Where's My Milk?  --CootDay

That's One Big Steam Locomotive-- Part 2

Not only are the locomotives big, but also they are very complex which makes restoring one extremely difficult.  They were the "pinnacle of steam locomotive design."

Union Pacific hasn't said how much the restoration cost, but estimates range around $4 million.

The last steam locomotive delivered to Union Pacific, the "Living Legend" Northern No. 844, has remained in service since 1944.  Big Boy No. 4014 will join No. 844 in publicity work as a railroad version of the Goodyear Blimp.

The two locomotives will tour the Union Pacific system throughout 2019 in honor of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869.

Few engineers these days know  what it's like to drive a steam locomotive.  The cab has no air conditioning and is right behind the big coal-fired boiler so it is hot and dirty.  Going through tunnels makes it especially bad.

However, Big Boy No. 4014 has been converted to burn fuel oil instead of coal so it won't be as bad.

Sure Like to See Big Boy.  --CootBoy

That's One Big Steam Locomotive-- Part 1

From the May 12, 2019, Chicago Tribune  "Steam locomotive makes big debut for transcontinental party" by Mead Gruver.

It's longer than two city buses, weighs more than a Boeing 747 fully loaded with passengers and can pull 18 Statues of Liberty over a mountain.

The Big Boy No. 4014 steam locomotive rolled out of a Union Pacific restoration shop in Cheyenne this month after five years of work.  It will then set out on a yearlong tour to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Big Boys hauled freight between Wyoming and Utah in the 1940s and 1950s.  Of the 25 built by the American Locomotive Co. in Schenecady, New York from 1941 to 1944, eight remain, but only No. 4014 is still fully operational.

They were engineered for steep mountain grades and each Big Boy had two huge engines beneath a 250-ton boiler able to hold enough water to cover an area the size of a basketball court to the depth of a high-top shoe.

That's One Big Boy!!  --CootLoc

A New Biggest Tree in Illinois

From the April 29, 2018, Chicago Tribune  "New preserve lays claim to biggest tree in Illinois" by Ted Gregory.

It's in Mt. Morris, about 100 miles west of Chicago.  And, it is 122 feet tall and nearly 29 feet in circumference eastern cottonwood and lives in Bald Hill Prairie Preserve.  The former biggest one is a cypress tree in the Cache River Natural Area near the southern tip of the state.

Bald Hill Prairie Preserve is a new 160 acre acquired by the Byron Forest Preserve District.

Between the wind, ice storms and soil conditions in Illinois, very few trees grown taller than 120 feet.  Eastern cottonwoods are particularly vulnerable as their wood is very weak and typically only live to be 70 to 100 years.  They estimate this one to be about 200 years old, the same time Illinois became a state.  So, it could be our Bicentennial Tree.

I remember my first encounter with a cottonwood in Round Lake Beach, when ones in the neighborhood let loose their seed parachutes which resembled dandelion fluff.  I had just had sod put down and said, "Oh no you don't.  I'll have no dandelions growing in my sod so ran out and started clearing them away until I realized it was a futile effort."

Well, I was the guy looking around Woodstock, Illinois, for the Woodstock Arts Festival in 1969.

Our friends Kevin and Kelly have a big old cottonwood in their yard on the Chain of Lakes.

Not the Sharpest Pencil in the Box.  --CootStupid

The Bum Gave All in 1919

From the February 6, 2019, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1919, 100 Years Ago.

"A big strapping fellow put in an appearance at the police station last night, and asked for a night's lodging.  When asked if he had any money, said he was broke, and that he had given $100,000 to the Red Cross, and had helped every other war cause with his money.

"The man gave his name as Fred Sturgeon of U.S.A. and after a night's sleep at the city hall, he was accompanied to the western city limits and given  the usual orders for such characters."

Hit the road Jack and don't you come back.

In Other Words, Vamoose!!  --Cooter

Ranking the 100 Best Chicago Bears-- Part 5: Jim McMahon, Punky QB

Here's hoping the Chicago Tribune will put this out in book form.

*  means I have heard of them

60.  Willie Gallimore*

59.  Jim Osborne

58.  Mike Brown

57.  Neal Anderson*

56.  Jim McMahon** The Punky QB.  My favorite Bears quarterback.

55.  Dick Gordon*

54.  Wilber Marshall**

53.  Otis Wilson**

52.  Wally Chambers*

51.  Dick Barwegan

Have You Seen Any of Your Favorite Bears Yet?  --BearCoot

Ranking the 100 Best Chicago Bears-- Part 4: Keith Van Horne and Mike Hartenstine

* means I know who they are.

70.  George Wilson

69.  Tommie Harris*

68.  Keith Van Horne**

67.  Mike Hartenstine**

66.  Mike Pyle*

65.  Ed O'Bradovich*

64.  J.C. Caroline*

63.  Julius Pepper*

62.  Mark Bortz**

61.  Mark Carrier*

--DaBearCoot

Ranking the 100 Best Chicago Bears-- Part 3: From Gould to "Big Cat"

*  I've heard of them.

80.  Khalil Mack*  That first game as a Bear.  Wow!!

79.  Jim McMillan

78.  Jay Cutler*  I sure had high hopes for him.

77.  Bill Osmanski*

76.  Johnny Lujack*

75.  Bennie McRae

74.  Robbie Gould*  Kicking just hasn't been the same since he left.

73.  Jim Dooley*

72.  James Williams*  "The Big Cat"

71.  Jack Manders

Dose Bears!!  --DaRoadDog

Ranking the 100 Best-Ever Chicago Bears-- Part 2: The "Butt Head" and the Plank

* means I have heard of him.  Again, these also include recent and current Bears.  **  On the '85 Bears.

90.  Kevin Butler*  The "Butt Head"  All those field goals and a Univ. of Georgia grad as well.

89.  Beattie Feathers

88.  Alshon Jeffery*

87.  Lee Artoe

86.  Brandon Marshall*

85.  Kyle Long*

84.  Bill Wade*

83.  Zuck Carlson

82.  Doug Plank*  The 46 Defense

81.  Eddie Jackson*

Da Bears.  --DaBearsDog

Ranking the Best-Ever Chicago Bears-- Part 1: The "Refrigerator"

The Chicago Tribune has been running this series all summer long, one player a day with a half page on each with information and a picture.

I am taking this list from the August 9, 2019, edition "#28 George Trafton."

He is one of the first Bears from 1920-1921 and quite an interesting character whom I will write about in the future because of the real early NFL.

Anyway, here is the list of Bear players.  *  means I have heard of them.  These include present-day players as well.  **  On that great '85 Super Bowl XX team

100.  Patrick Mannelly

99.  William Perry** The "Refrigerator" and one of my all-time favorites.  I mean, you just had to love the "Fridge."

98.  Tom Thayer**

97.  Hugh Gallarneau

96.  Joey Sternamam

95.  Akiem Hicks*

94.  Gary Famiglietti

93.  Ed Brown

92.  Matt Suhey*

91.  Bill Karr

Da Bears.  --CootBear

World War I: The Almost Blog

I seriously considered starting an eighth blog back in 1917, to mark the centennial of World War I.  But, with the blogs I already had, I decided that would be way too much so it never came to be.

I wrote a lot about the war, however, in this blog.  Up to this post, I have written about World War I a total of 577 times.

And since George Halas had a World War I connection, I will write about him next.

Seven blogs are too much as it is.

Sure Glad I Didn't Start An Eighth Blog.  --DaCoot

Missing the Boat May Have Saved George Halas' Life-- Part 4: From U of I, to Decautur to Da Bears

Why was George Halas late?  One report later speculated that  he had overslept.  Patrick McCaskey, his grandson, said it was because Halas was obsessed with gaining enough weight to play football at Illinois, so his brother took extra time to weigh him that morning.

"My grandfather went back to the University of Illinois with a renewed sense of purpose, " McCaskey said.  "He felt very fortunate from that day forward."

Five years later --  after Halas graduated from Illinois, served in the Navy during World War I and played briefly for the New York Yankees --  he moved to Decatur, Illinois, for a job with the A.E. Staley Comapny, for whom he was a player-coach of the company football team.

In 1921, Halas took control of the team, moved it to Chicago and renamed it the Bears.

"If he had been one of the fatalities,"  McCaskey said, "I don'tnavy know that the National Football League or the Chicago Bears would have been in existence."

That's Why We Call Him "Papa Bear."  --Cooter

Mising the Boat May Have Saved George Halas' Life-- Part 3: He's Alive!!

Three days later, the Chicago Tribune ran a list of Western Electric employees who were still missing and possibly dead.  One of those listed read "Halas, G.S., Sept. 4110."  None other than our eventual "Papa Bear."

"Two of his fraternity brothers from the University of Illinois read the newspaper  with his name on the list, and they came to my grandfather's home to express condolences to my grandfather's mother,"  McCaskey said.  "They were delighted and surprised when my grandfather answered the door."

According to the Eastland Disaster Historical Society, Halas played on Western Electric's sports  teams and was going to play in the picnic baseball game.  His plan was to meet his best friend, Ralph Brizzalara, and Ralph's brother, Charles.  Both boarded the Eastland and both survived.

He's Alive.  --Cooter

Missing the Boat May Have Saved George Halas' Life-- Part 2: "Papa Bear"

Roughly 2,500 employees and their families had boarded the ship, and at 7:25 a.m. it began listing and swaying from side to side.

A large crowd of horrified spectators watched as the Eastland -- a few feet from the bank of the Chicago River between LaSalle Drive and Clark Street -- turned on its side.  It was in 20 feet of water, deep enough to drown 844 people trapped or trampled below decks.

It is the deadliest day ever in Chicago and was the greatest peacetime inland waterway disaster in American history.

"His mother told him to say a rosary of gratitude that night," said Patrick McCaskey, Halas' grandson and Chicago Bears vice president.

--Cooter

Missing the Boat May Have Saved George Halas' Life-- Part 1: Was Supposed To Be On the Ill-fated Eastland

From the July 24, 2019, Chicago Tribune "Late arrival for boat ride may have saved Halas' life" by Tim Bannon.

Football's George Halas was supposed to go on the ill-fated SS Eastland on Saturday, July 24, 1915.

But, he was late.

At the time, he was a 20-year-old and had a job with Western Electric and that day was supposed to join his coworkers for a fun day aboard the SS Eastland which would cross the southern end of Lake Michigan for the telephone's picnic in Michigan City, Indiana.

But by the time he reached  the Chicago River dock, the Eastland  was already overturned.

--Cooter

Deaths: NASA's Mission Control Guy-- Part 2: We Did Not Know A Damn Thing About Putting A Man Into Space"

Neil Armstrong once called him "the man who was the 'Control' in Mission Control."

"From the moment the mission starts until the moment the crew is safe on board the recovery ship, I'm in charge,"  Mr. Kraft said in his book, "Flight:  My Life in Mission Control,"  .  "No one can overrule me....They can fire me after it's over.  But while the mission is under way, I'm Flight.  And Flight is God."

In the early days of Mercury at Florida's Cape Canaveral, before Mission Control moved to Houston in 1965, there were no computer displays, "all  you had was grease pencils."

"We didn't know a damn thing about putting a man into space.  We had no idea how much it would cost."

But, Much Success Did Come.  Thanks Mr. Kraft

Deaths: NASA's Mission Control Guy, Chris Kraft

From the July 24, Chicago Sun-Times obituaries "Founder of NASA's Mission Control" by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer.

CHRIS KRAFT (1924-2019)

"Behind America's late leap into orbit and triumphant small step on the moon was the agile mind and guts of steel of Chris Kraft, making split-second decisions that propelled the nation into once unimaginable heights.

"Mr. Kraft, the creator and longtime leader of NASA's Mission Control died Monday (July 22) in Houston, just two days after the 50th anniversary of what was his and NASA's crowning achievement:  Apollo 11's moon landing.  He was 95."

He founded Mission Control and created the job of flight director, which he held, describing it as being like am orchestra conductor making sure all the parts ran well.  He served as flight director for every one-man Mercury flights and seven of the two-man Gemini flights and helped design the Apollo missions that took 12 Americans to the moon from 1969 to 1972.

He was later director of the Johnson Space Center until 1982, overseeing the beginning of the space shuttle era.

Chicago 1919 Race Riot-- Part 10: A Call for Historical Markers

Efforts are underway for a public art project that would erect markers at the visited sites where people were killed ir riot events occurred.

I would definitely like for this to happen as before reading this article I had heard of the 1919 racial conflict but didn't know much about it.  I am a firm supporter of markers (or as they call them in North Carolina, "History On a Stick").  Also memorials and statues.  History must be told.

"My grandmother was about four when the riots happened and had very vivid memories of it" recalled Rebecca Connie, program manager at Blackstone, which trained youth participants as marshals to guide the bike tour.

"I remember she told me the story of how she and her 3-year-old sister and infant brother were hiding in the basement, guarded by an uncle with a shotgun.  He had been injured in the war (WW I).  All the other men were out in the neighborhood standing post," she said.

A Way Too Horrible Thing To Forget.

Chicago 1919 Race Riot-- Part 9: "Firing Indiscriminately at African Americans"

Most of the riot violence against Blacks came during the day as workers going to and from their jobs were attacked by Whites, particularly in the Stockyards.  Injuries to Blacks occurred all around Chicago, but the deaths of Whites came primarily in black neighborhoods where they had gone with the purpose of attacking.

According to records, after the incident at the beach, white people "loaded into automobiles and sped through black streets, firing indiscriminately at African Americans and their homes.  As whites attacked , black people fought back in unprecedented numbers: a street-level expression of the growing race consciousness catching fire across the country."

It continued:  "...Only a handful were tried or saw any prison time -- most of them black.  Many of the riot's most vicious were whites protected by law enforcement and local politicians."

From the historic stockyards gate, the bike tour circles back to culminate at 31st Street Beach.

Chicago 1919 Race Riot-- Part 8: Wendell Phillips High School

Continuing with the bike tour:

**  244 Pershing Road, Wendell Phillips High School, where racial demographics were shifting before the riots.  It became Chicago's first predominantly black high school in 1920.  Notable grads include Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke and John H. Johnson.

Some others:  Gwendolyn Brooks and Herbie Hancock.

Today it is Phillips Academy, one of the best schools in Chicago and a football powerhouse.

**  318-324 E. 43rd St., The Forum, built in 1897, was once the hub for social, political and civic events in the black community.  Shuttered in the 1990s and abandoned and now reclaimed for revitalization.

BRIDGEPORT and BACK OF THE YARDS stops:

**  Armour Square Park at 33rd and Wentworth streets on the dividing line between black and white communities.  Opened in 1905, it's been the site of racial violence since 1913, including the 1997 savage beating of black teen Lenard Clark.

**  The Union Stockyards Gate, at Exchange Avenue and Peoria Street, where tensions between Blacks and Whites over competition for meatpacking jobs exploded during the riots.

Chicago Race Riot 1919-- Part 7: On the Bike Tour

You can find details of those who died that week, both Black and White on an interactive map created by Univ. of Chicago Professor John D. Clegg that also lists the injured and incidents of bombing and arson.

**  The next stop on the bike tour is 3624 S. King Dr., once home to famed civil rights activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett, who took testimony from victims and appeared before a grand jury on their behalf.

**  Then to 3365 S. Indiana Ave., a home bomb with homemade explosions or Molotav cocktails which white gangs used to destroy homes in the "Black Belt."

**  Next is 3501 S. Wabash Ave., now the Chicago Police Dept. headquarters parking lot.  In 1919, it was the site of the Angelus, the only building in the "Black Belt" with predominantly white residents.  Four people were killed here in a clash between Blacks and police.

**  Across the street is De La Salle Institute, where the late Mayor Richard J. Daley graduated in 1919.  Daley was a member of the Hamburg Athletic Club, a Bridgeport Irish gang cited for some of the beatings and bombings.  Daley always denied that he took part in the riots.

Chicago Race Riot of 1919-- Part 6: James Crawford Shoots at Police and Is Killed

BIKE TOUR

The first stop after the beach is at the city's oldest black Baptist church, the 145-year-old Oliver Baptist at 3101 S. King Drive.  During the 1920s it had  some 10,000 members and was the largest black church in the United States and the largest Protestant church in the world.

It was an active station on the Underground Railroad during slavery and in effect was the community center in Chicago's segregated "Black Belt" at the time, home of 40 different social, economic and cultural organizations and, during the riots it was headquarters for those trying to stop the violence.

D. Bradford Hunt of Chicago's Newberry Library who helped lead the bike tour said:  "Eugene Williams drowns.  Police refuse to arrest the white guy.  African Americans on the beach are furious.  At some point an African American man shoots a gun at police.  Someone gets injured.  Police chase him over the tracks, toward Olivet, and about two blocks northeast, they shoot and kill the guy."

The man was James Crawford, 37, a Southerner who had come up from Georgia, shot at 6 p.m. on July 27 at 29th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue.