What Does Gsh Mean on Chicago Bears Uniforms? Complete Jersey Faq
By James H. Sterling
George Halas was born in Chicago in 1895 to Bohemian immigrant parents. A gifted multi-sport athlete, he played college football and baseball at the University of Illinois before briefly suiting up as an outfielder for the New York Yankees in 1919. A severe hip injury pushed him away from Major League Baseball, driving him toward the burgeoning, chaotic world of post-World War I pro football.
In 1920, the A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company, a corn starch processor based in Decatur, Illinois, hired Halas as an athletic director and sales representative. The company tasked him with managing its workplace squad, the Decatur Staleys. Later that summer, Halas represented the Staleys inside an automobile showroom in Canton, Ohio, sitting alongside representatives from eleven other Midwestern clubs. That gathering formed the American Professional Football Association, which rebranded two years later as the National Football League.
Halas wore every hat conceivable. He served as the primary ticket salesman, business promoter, head coach, and end on the field. When financial realities forced Staley to withdraw company sponsorship in 1921, the firm handed Halas $5,000 to relocate the team north to Chicago under the condition that they keep the Staleys moniker for one season. In 1922, Halas renamed the team the Chicago Bears, reasoning that because baseball players were "Cubs," football players were naturally "Bears", and made Wrigley Field their home fortress.
James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.
