How They Got Their Name: Chicago Bears
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The history of the Chicago Bears goes back a long time. So long, in fact, you have to go back before the creation of the NFL. In 1919, A.E. Staley of the Staley Manufacturing Co. (a starch manufacturer) in Decatur, Illinois formed an industrial football team at his company and called them the Decatur Staleys. One of A.E. Staley’s first orders of business was to reach out to former University of Illinois football and baseball player George Halas to coach and play for his team. Halas quickly recruited players to play for the team, as well as work for the company, and the Decatur Staleys were successful right away. With the excitement and recognized potential for growth, Staley and Halas met with representatives from nine other football teams in Canton, Ohio in 1920 to form the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which would become the NFL in 1922.
With the sport quickly growing, combined with the team’s success, A.E. Staley recognized the limited growth potential in the Decatur market. He knew a big city was needed for his team to reach its full potential. So, in 1921, he met with George Halas and made him an offer. The team would move to Chicago and Halas would take over as the owner. Staley only wanted one thing in return for giving up his beloved team: they keep the “Staleys” name for their first year in Chicago. Of course, Halas agreed.
The Staleys moved to Chicago, where they played their home games at Cub Park (later known as Wrigley Field). That was their home field for the team’s first 51 years. But after that first year in the Windy City, it was time for a new name for the football team. Halas’s initial thinking was to name it the Chicago Cubs, like several new professional football teams did in those days in attempt to carry over fandom from the local baseball team. Then it occurred to him that a different name was too logical to pass up. After all, since his team shared the stadium with the Cubs baseball team, and football players were generally bigger in size than baseball players, the new name for the football team became the Chicago Bears.
Garett