HapHaszard Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nfl/article/0,2777,DRMN_23918_5326162,00.html The Bears have been around since the NFL's birth and, in addition to capturing nine championships, always have been one of the league's most colorful franchises. The Colts, who have won three titles, are younger but can boast of having played in arguably the two most important games in NFL history during an intriguing past spanning two cities. DA BEARS? HOW ABOUT THEM STALEYS: In the beginning they weren't the Bears. With George Halas the player-coach, the Decatur Staleys played their inaugural game Oct. 3, 1920, less than a month after 13 Midwestern teams, with Halas a driving force, formed the American Professional Football Association (the name was changed to the National Football League in 1922). The Staleys went 10-1-2, but the Akron Pros (8-0-3) won the title. The Bears won the title the next year. Each player earned $1,900 for the first season. WHY THE BEARS?: After the inaugural season, team owner A.J. Staley asked Halas to take the team off his hands, which Halas did for $5,000. He moved the team to Chicago (they played one year as the Chicago Staleys, per agreement with Staley) and secured a lease from baseball pioneer Bill Veeck and William Wrigley to play at Wrigley Field. Halas originally was going to rename the team Cubs out of appreciation, but settled on Bears, noting that football players, after all, are bigger than their baseball counterparts. click on the link above for the rest of the article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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