George Halas is a founding father of the NFL. Universally celebrated as a pioneer, a visionary, a humanitarian, and a winner. What a lot of people don’t remember is Papa Bear also had a reputation for playing dirty. Most know the stories from his time as a coach. He’d encouraging players to take extra liberties with their physicality. He trained a dog to run on the field when he needed an extra timeout. He sold extra tickets to fans that were directly behind the opposing bench. Whatever he had to do to get an edge. So is it any surprise that Halas was the exact same way as a player?
Most people remember Halas as a coach, but for 10 years from 1919 to 1929, he was a player for the Hammond All-Stars and then the Decatur Staleys which became the Bears. He won a championship in 1921 and had some proud moments on the field. Probably his greatest was returning a fumble by legendary Jim Thorpe 98 yards for a touchdown at Wrigley Field. That is the most notable encounter he ever had with a Native American. Many don’t know Thorpe was a member of the Sauk and Meskwaki nation.
However, it wasn’t Halas’ only one.
It turns out his tendency for taking liberties with his physical play led to a lot of fights and injuries to opposing players. Especially the stars. Most of the time things went his way. One time though he messed with the wrong guy, a Chippewa native, and future Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Guyon.
In a book called “Sports Illustrated Great Football Writing” which is an anthology of acclaimed articles, essays, and other writings from the pages of Sports Illustrated featured one story by Ralph McGill detailing the fateful encounter between the two in 1927.
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George Halas recounted that story many times after that
Halas revealed that Guyon spun around and hit him with a knee right after throwing a pass. Not only did the Bears icon miss the rest of the game, but his team ended up losing 13-7. Guyon’s New York Giants squad ended up winning the NFL championship that year. A little extra salt in the wound for good measure.
If nothing else this is a reminder of how far the game has come in the past 100 years. Can you imagine a QB throwing a pass and then suddenly spinning around and trying to drive a knee into the chest of a defensive end today? It would be nationwide news. People would be denouncing the NFL for allowing such violence in the game. Yet it was a way of life back then.