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