Customer Reviews

Papa Bear : The Life and Legacy of George Halas

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This is one of two books which I have read recently, the other being Let Me Tell You a Story: A Lifetime in the Game, John Feinstein's account of his close association with Arnold ("Red") Auerbach. Both Halas and Auerbach were obviously great coaches but also outstanding CEOs, each building a successful and profitable franchise while playing a key role in a multi-billion dollar professional organization. In this instance, the National Football League. Born and raised in Chicago, I was especially interested in what seems to be the definitive biography of Halas, the longtime owner and coach of that city's NFL team, Duh Bears. It must have taken someone with both his most attractive qualities (e.g. vision, generosity, perseverance, self-confidence) and his most unattractive qualities (e.g. duplicity, arrogance, stubbornness, and -- at times -- paranoia) to accomplish what he did...which was indeed a great deal.

For example, Halas played as a right fielder with the New York Yankees until replaced...by Babe Ruth. He then concentrated on a career in football, playing for as well as coaching the Decatur (IL) Staleys which he organized in 1920. It was one of the 11 original teams in the American Professional Football Association, of which Halas was a co-founder and its driving force. The APFA became the National Football League in 1922. Thirty-five (35) franchises folded during its first ten seasons. It was also in 1922 that Halas relocated his team to Chicago and re-named it the Bears. From 1920 until 1929, he was a coach/player and then concentrated entirely on coaching during three periods (1933-42, 1946-55, and 1958-68), during which the Bears won seven NFL championships and Halas was credited with a then league-record of 325 wins. Only Don Shula has won more.

With all due respect to his achievements as a coach, Halas deserves much (if not most) of the credit for keeping professional football alive. At least until the emergence of television, baseball really was the national pastime and college football was much more popular (and credible) than was the NFL and the All-American Football Conference which challenged it after World War Two. It is debatable when all this changed. Many cite the the Baltimore Colts victory in overtime against the New York Giants in the NFL championship game (December 28, 1958), others Pete Rozelle's leadership as commissioner (1960-1989 and especially during his first years in that office), and still others a program which CBS televised in 1960 as part of its Twentieth Century series, "The Violent World of Sam Huff." Having personally observed the NFL's exceptional growth throughout the 1950s and 1960s, my own opinion is that there were many factors which certainly include these three. Point is, there would have been no NFL as we now know it without the contributions which George Halas made.

That said, there are many (including several who played for Halas) who would agree with then Chicago Daily News columnist Mike Royko that Halas was "a tight-fisted, stubborn, willful, mean old man...[adding that] there isn't a famous Chicagoan in or out of jail who generates such intense dislike." Unlike Arnold ("Red") Auerbach who frequently claimed that he could forgive but never forget a perceived grievance, Halas often seems incapable of either. Davis examines this in several of Halas' relationships with various assistant coaches and players as well as with several owners. However, it is most evident in his relationship with son-in-law Michael McCaskey who married daughter Virginia. Near death, as Halas considered who would next head the franchise, he sighed "Anybody but Michael." That deathbed wish would be denied.

Davis cites numerous examples of Halas' generosity, notably the fact that he paid for nearly all of the immense medical expenses during Brian Piccolo's losing battle with cancer. In the Foreword, Gale Sayers observes, "I love George Halas. When I talk about George Halas on speaking tours, I always say that. I thought that way about him. He made me a better person. He made a young man a better man just by talking to him, offering his advice. I always listened to him. I will always remember him. I appreciate him." Many others share their own fond memories as well appreciation of Halas' often concealed kindnesses.

Davis's research seems exhaustive. He conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews with those who were most closely associated with Halas, including many with whom Halas had serious, at times rancorous disagreements (e.g. Dick Butkus) This is probably the definitive biography of the Old Man but it also offers a wealth of information about the process by which professional football evolved to its current place in American society. As Davis asserts and I agree, no one played a more prominent role during that process than did Papa Bear.

Some men stand on the shoulders of giants to get a good look at God. Not football legend George Halas. He was a God, and here's 534 pages of proof in Jeff Davis's stunning biography Papa Bear. Halas could play the game. Oh, man, could he play. He was an MVP at the Rose Bowl AND an outfielder on the New York Yankees in the same year. As offensive end with the Bears, he stripped Olympian Jim Thorpe of a ball, recovered the fumble, and ran it back 98 yards for a touchdown, a record that would stand for almost fifty years.

He could coach, too, an understatement Halas certainly would appreciate. During his forty-year tenure, he perfected the T-formation, won an astonishing 8 NFL titles and 324 games (second best record in football history), and pioneered innovations like holding daily practice sessions and broadcasting games on the radio.

If Jeff Davis's Papa Bear were simply a laundry list of Halas's accomplishments, it would still be a fascinating read. Fortunately, it's a lot more. Davis spoke first hand with Jerry Vainisi, Dick Butkus, Mike Ditka - the gang's all here - and what develops is a gripping narrative of a taciturn man who could be surprisingly philanthropic. He was a miser during contract negotiations, yet covered Brian Piccolo's astronomical medical bills during his tragic bout with cancer. Davis's skillful command of a story that virtually spans an entire century is an impressive feat.

Davis is a native Chicagoan and long time sportswriter. The Bears are his turf, and what you get is an unvarnished yet articulate summation of Halas's contributions to football, along with the tragic way Halas was unable to defend his legacy from the barbarians in the front office. In football's version of the Corleone saga, George Halas said on his deathbed, "Anybody but Michael (McCaskey)." Look at the way the Bears played for years after their triumphant Super Bowl Season in 1985 and you'll understand why. He knew the poetic simplicity of directness, and why his grandson Michael, a former Harvard Business School professor, was too flaccid and indecisive a leader to follow in Halas's gargantuan footsteps.

Halas's story is, in essence, football's story, and by extension the story of professional sports in America. How did the NFL become, in Davis's words, the "richest and most powerful sports organization on Earth"? Read this and learn why you go to two churches on Sundays.

George S. Halas was, depending on who wrote the piece that you're reading, either the cheapest, back-stabbingest skinflint who ever threw nickels around like manhole covers, or a visionary who had the foresight to see what the NFL could become and ran his family business and associations (read: NFL) to the top of the sporting world heap. You can find both sides in this book, which is a reason that it ranks as high as it does.

To understand the man, the book starts out with his parents, from the old country, Bohemia. As new immigrants, they worked in ways that we don't seem to do any more, like thrift, saving for something better, hard work at odd jobs to get that extra change. This is how George Halas operatered because he was "programmed" to do this at a young age. Subsequently, when he owned the Bears, that was how he operated his business. He saw the possibilities of growth of his team and the NFL through the media. He saw the wealth could be generated, mainly in terms of the league as a whole. He was determined to make his franchise the best, and that meant applying those principles that he learned when young (i.e., thrift). But he could also be extremely generous with his money, especially in family/business tragedies like Brian Piccolo, Willie Galimore and others. His line of succession, to take over the Bears, was also something learned from The Old Country, and thrown into pandimonium when his only son died and his son was estranged from Halas. Therefore, it fell to the McCaskeys to carry on the Halas-nurtured Bears into the 21st century, something G.S. Halas would conceivably be turning over in his grave about.

The book does no favors at all concerning the McCaskeys; they are depicted as rather ignorant of most things concerning football and especially about the Bears, and greedy, controlling the Bears only for the money and prestige. The accuracy of this, since it was laid on so thickly by the author, makes you wonder if it is really true, but the record and gaffes committed by the Bears over the last 20 years tend to bear the author's characterization out. "Papa Bear" is a good, absorbing book for the history of the Chicago Bears and how the league got to where it is today, and hits much closer to the heart, mind and soul of George Halas and how he lived that many other biographies and autobiographies that one may find.

This is not a particularly well written or well organized book. But it is about an icon and provides good detail of the life of George Halas.

As any avid professional football fan knows, George Halas is one of the original founders, players, and coaches of the National Football League. A Chicago native, he built and sustained one of the most gloried franchises in NFL history. It is rather a shame this book did tell the story with a little more panache.

Great book. Long, well written. I bought a used copy on Amazon. Smelled of cigarettes. Wouldn't recommend the seller as they claimed it was "like new". P U!

Mr. Davis tells it all; the drive, the dedication and the desire to win at almost any cost. He revels not only the good but as well the flaws in the man. It's a great read about a great man. I thought I knew a lot about George Halas but was pleased to find how little I really did know; for example his great respect and friendship with Vince Lombardi in spite of his tremendous dislike of the Greenbay Packers but only on the playing field.

I was very pleased with the condition of the book I ordered for my son it looked brand new but I got it at a such a great price. thanks amazon I have already ordered more books because of the condition of this book and the speedy delivery.

What a treat this book is, not only for Bears fans but also for anyone who loves the NFL. There wouldn't be an NFL without the tireless work of George Halas, the Papa Bear. And Davis's book tells you all you need to know about this fascinating character. It is also a trove of information about the early years of the NFL. It is a delight to read, and it belongs in the library of anyone who fancies himself a true follower or professional football.

Al Bowers
Prescott, Arizona

...though it's a bit long at 512 pages (excluding notes, index, etc).

The book does read pretty quickly. Not any particular chapter that I enjoyed the most. Sid Luckman was George's favorite. Interesting insights on the way the author describes George Allen, Mugs (George, Jr.), the rest of the Halas clan, and many of his ex-players including Geo Blanda, Bobby Layne, Rich Casares, et al. Definitely worth your time to read the book. When I visited Chicago, I passed by the old Soldier Field several times, but never took the time to visit it which is uncharacteristic of me. Wished not I had taken the time, as the place was reportedly to be very antiquated.

Pros: Everything you should know about Papa Bear (including everything the McCaskeys have spent years trying to hide from you)
Cons: None

I think it's safe to say we've finally seen the
definitive literary work on George Halas. It did take
more than two decades after his death for it to be
published, but that's fitting. To truly grasp
everything about the man and his legacy, you need to
have lived through it and it's aftermath. Finally,
one of us who has experienced it all first hand has put
it out in the open for all to see. It's the most
captivating sports book I've read in years, easily.