When mindlessly scrolling through Twitter today, I did see something cool; today is Mike Singletary’s birthday. Remember the big 5-0 out there? I’m going to stick to this thought… his number should be retired. Seeing guys run around the field wearing 50 just doesn’t look right; that number belongs to Samurai Mike.
The Bears have 14 retired numbers currently; you may have heard of a few. George Halas (7), Walter Payton (34), Gale Sayers (40), Sid Luckman (42), Dick Butkus (51), and Mike Ditka (89) are probably the most famous. That still leaves 8 other guys with their jersey numbers retired. Being a Bears fan, and understanding that football did take place before the Super Bowl era, of course, I know of some others.
Bronko Nagurski (3) born on November 3, 1908 is an oldie but goodie. His first name is actually Bronislau (if there was ever a Bears football name…) who actually was famous for professional wrestling after playing football. He was a 4x All Pro who played on 3 of the Bears championship teams (1932, 1933, 1943). He has an award named after him in NCAA Football, awarded to the best defensive player. Red Grange (77) was born on June 13, 1903. You may know him by his nickname “The Galloping Ghost”? Besides playing on the 32 & 33 championship teams with Bronko, Harold Edward also played a bit for the New York Yankees. Back in the early days of the NFL, his “barnstorming tours”, where he travelled with the team to play exhibition games in many cities, really helped grow the NFL’s popularity. Brian Piccolo (41), subject of the famous movie “Brian’s Song”, played in the same backfield as Gale Sayers. He was diagnosed with cancer, and ended up dying at the age of 26; he’s actually buried at the same cemetery as my paternal grandparents. OK, that still leaves us 5…
I do know of Bill George (61). Speaking of all-time LBs, along with Butkus, Urlacher, Singletary, George really helps the Bears corner the market on that position. Clyde “Bulldog” Turner (66) I have also heard of. He was a center (one of the best ever?), yes, an offensive lineman, who was part of 4 NFL Championship teams (1940, 1941, 1943, & 1946). Willie Gattimore (28) was another all-time Bears player who had a tragic ending to his life; he was killed in an automobile accident at the age of 29. He averaged 4.5 yards per carry and had 26 TDs in his short career. The final two are the ones I’m least familiar with.
George McAfee (5), OK, yes I’ve heard of him, but who is he? He was the #1 overall pick in the 1940 draft. He was on 3 of those championship teams (1940, 1941, & 1946) and ran/caught the ball out of the backfield, as well as, returned kicks. I have no recollection of Bill Hewitt (56). He played defensive end on the 1932 & 1933 NFL Championship teams. I guess winning multiple championships with the franchise while playing for George Halas in the early days of the NFL really meant something. I’m not saying any of these guys aren’t worthy, I’m just saying.
So full circle back to retiring #50; there is nobody, besides Payton, that has their number retired from the one and only Super Bowl team. Considering the defense is the best of all time, I’m thinking we could have a few more retired jerseys? I know we still need numbers to wear for the current team, but… if there was any number from that defense that should be retired, I’d argue it should be 50, with 95 next up. You with me? Happy Birthday Samurai! Bear Down!
Leave a Reply