by David Funk

Created on: February 14, 2007   Last Updated: May 10, 2007

George Stanley Halas was born on February 2, 1895 in Chicago, Illinois. Halas was born into a family of Hungarian immigrants, and had played a variety of sports as a youngster. After he graduated at Crane Tech High School in Chicago, Halas would attend the Univeristy of Illinois. He played football for Illinois' legendary coach Bob Zuppke as well as playing baseball and basketball for the university. He earned a civil engineering degree while he attended Illinois, and helped the football team win the Big Ten title in 1918. After leaving Illinois, Halas served in World War I, and played football for the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. The team won the Rose Bowl over Mare Island, 17-0 in 1919. Halas won MVP honors for the game after he scored both of the team's touchdowns with one of them being a 77-yard interception touchdown. The team was rewarded with military discharges.

In 1919, Halas took up minor league and semi-pro baseball. His skills eventually earned him a promotion to the New York Yankees team that year. Halas played in 12 games in the outfield in 1919, but his career was cut short because of a hip injury he suffered while playing. The Yankees, who were in need for a replacement for Halas, purchased the contract of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox before the 1920 season.

After his career was done with the Yankees, Halas was offered a position at a starch manufacturer in Decatur, IL to be their company representative. He was also a player for the company baseball team as well as player-coach for the Staley company football team that was run by A.E. Staley. Halas then selected the orange and blue colors that he wore at the University of Illinois to be the team's colors.

In 1920, Halas represented the team in a meeting for the American Professional Football Association that was starting up that year in Canton, Ohio. The team was approved to play in the new league as the Decatur Staleys, which Halas adopted in honor of the owner. Halas was in control of team operations with Dutch Sternaman. The team went 5-1-2 in their first season while finishing second in the league. The team had a bad year financially, and Halas decided to move the team to Chicago. The team won their first pro football title in 1921 while finishing with a 9-1-1 record on the campaign. Before the 1922 season, Halas decided to rename the team - the Bears - in large part because of the Chicago Cubs franchise, and them playing at their home field - Wrigley Field. Not only was Halas the coach

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