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