In honor of the NFL’s 100 year anniversary, Sports Illustrated compiled a list of the most influential figures in the history of the league. The list went beyond players, coaches, and GMs, also looking at the media professionals, doctors, and executives outside of the NFL who helped shape the league.
The Chicago Bears, one of the oldest and most storied franchises in the history of the NFL, have five former players and coaches who made the list. Here’s a look at the Bears who were chosen as being some of the most influential figures in league history, helping mold the modern NFL into what it is today:
George Halas
Public DomainChicago Bears founder George Halas pictured in his 1952 Bowman card.
Sports Illustrated’s description of Halas is stunningly impressive: “League co-founder; owner, coach, and patriarch of the Bears.” Halas won eight NFL championships, remains one of the winningest coaches in history, has the NFC championship trophy named after him, and helped keep the league going for decades when it wasn’t on its feet fiscally. And yet to Bears fans, he’s so much more.
Often referred to by fans as “Papa Bear,” Halas hired the man who coached the team to its only Super Bowl victory, and his daughter, Virginia McCaskey, remains the owner of the Bears. His presence has been there since the team has–for many, Halas is the Bears. SI noted that Halas:
“Was a fixture in all aspects of the budding game, including in the communications department and sales. He was also a proponent of sharing revenue to aid smaller markets and the creation of a draft, which would prevent the larger cities from building a singular pipeline from the collegiate game.”
Quite the influential man, indeed.
Mike Ditka
GettyFormer Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka. (Photo by VINCENT LAFORET / AFP) (Photo credit should read VINCENT LAFORET/AFP/Getty Images)
In the Hall of Fame for being both an influential player and coach, the man known as Iron Mike has been the most successful Bears coach other than Halas and remains the lone coach to win a Super Bowl for Chicago. The Bears drafted Ditka in the first round in 1961, and SI notes how as a tight end, he revolutionized the position:
“A fast and bruising proto-Gronkowski, Ditka revolutionized tight end in the pros: His 1,076 receiving yards as a rookie were most ever at the position, and his 248 catches in his first four seasons—including 75 in Chicago’s 1963 championship campaign—were unmatched until the likes of Kellen Winslow and Ozzie Newsome arrived two decades later.”
Ditka won a Super Bowl with Dallas as a player and again with Chicago as a coach, and he remains a pop culture icon in Chicago and beyond.
Harold “Red” Grange
National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress)Chicago Bears running back Red Grange
Grange, the first football player to leave college to play professionally, left the University of Illinois in 1925 to sign with the Bears. At the time, Grange, also known as the “Galloping Ghost,” was the best athlete around, and he changed the game even further and more drastically when he began getting paid for it.
Grange was offered $100,000–an unheard-of sum at the time–to go on a 19-game tour that lasted slightly over two months. Grange also received a cut of ticket sales, another first. According to SI, Grange was also influential because he “had an impact on the relationship between colleges and the NFL, ultimately leading to the creation of the NFL draft.”
Grange went on to win two NFL championships with the Bears as a player before retiring and enjoying an endorsement and movie career.
Bronko Nagurski
GettyChicago Bears running back ‘Bronko’ Nagurski. Getty Images
One of the larger men to ever play the game at the time, Nagurski was 6’2″ and 226 pounds, and he was a menacing threat on both sides of the ball:
“His versatility is unheard of in today’s game—not content just to carry the ball, he lined up at linebacker when Chicago was on defense.” Nagurski won three NFL championships with the Bears, and he played alongside Grange in the early 30s. Sports Illustrated quotes Grange who was in awe of Nagurski:
“He was the best player I ever saw. He had the power of Larry Csonka, but was faster, and he was good as Dick Butkus on defense, maybe better.”
Walter Payton
GettyChicago Bears running back Walter Payton. (Photo by Mike Powell/Allsport/Getty Images)
Few who watched Payton play will ever forget the skill and passion he brought to the game. Widely recognized as the greatest player in Bears history, Payton broke Jim Brown’s rushing record, and his record of 275 yards rushing in one game wasn’t broken for 23 years.
The NFL’s current humanitarian award is named after Payton, who won a Super Bowl with the Bears in 1985 before retiring after the 1987 season. Payton passed tragically in 1999 at the age of 45, but he will always be remembered for changing the game simply by the way he ran. In the NFL Network’s Walter Payton: A Football Life, Emmitt Smith, who eventually passed Payton on the all-time leading rusher list, was asked who the best running back in history was. His response? Walter Payton.
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Walter Payton Among Most Influential Bears in NFL’s First 100 Years