Post by JABF on Jan 27, 2017 20:36:10 GMT -6
This appeared in the New York Times when Sid passed away in 1998. It is a fascinating read. Even back when Papa Bear drafted Sid in 1939, a great QB was a smart QB - not just guy with a cannon arm.
Sid was our QB during the NFL Championship game were we beat the Redskins 73-0. Luckman led the Bears to 4 NFL Championships (the Super Bowl back then).
Anyway, this is a good read, about a great man.
Sid was our QB during the NFL Championship game were we beat the Redskins 73-0. Luckman led the Bears to 4 NFL Championships (the Super Bowl back then).
Anyway, this is a good read, about a great man.
LINK
Sid Luckman, Star for the Bears, Dies at 81
By WILLIAM N. WALLACE JULY 6, 1998
Sid Luckman, the Columbia University star and quarterback of the great Chicago Bears teams of the 1940's who helped trigger a revolution in how the game of football was played, died yesterday at Aventura (Fla.) Hospital and Medical Center. Luckman, who lived in Aventura, was 81.
Luckman, playing for George Halas, the owner and coach of the Bears, turned the modern T-formation into a formidable weapon and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965.
Bob Zuppke, the great Illinois coach, once said of Luckman, ''He was the smartest football player I ever saw, and that goes for college or pro.''
New Yorkers followed Luckman from the time he was a much-publicized schoolboy at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn.
''When I grew up in Flatbush,'' Luckman once told a reporter, ''we played football, stickball and baseball all the time, right out there on the city streets. Football was my favorite.''
Luckman, highly recruited out of high school, spurned about 40 college offers to play at Columbia. He had planned to attend Navy, but was attracted by the dynamic Lou Little, the Lions' coach.
Navy was playing Columbia at Baker Field and Rip Miller, the Navy athletic director, who was personally recruiting Luckman, first took him into the Navy locker room and then the Columbia locker room.
''As soon as I met Lou Little, I knew I wanted to play for him,'' Luckman once recalled. ''Columbia had no athletic scholarships then, so I had to work my way through -- painting walls and washing dishes in the fraternity house for room and meals.''
Luckman's all-America efforts for mediocre Columbia teams caught the eyes of the Bears' Halas, who had a plan that changed football forever.
Luckman was in the right place at the right time as the Bears introduced a modern version of the T-formation offense, which promoted passing and put emphasis on speed and deception in place of brute strength. The T-formation had existed years before Luckman came onto the scene, but it was the versatile quarterback who gave it such a thunderous impact on the game. He was not a speedy athlete, but he made up for it with his sense for the game.
A single-wing tailback in college, Luckman had no initial interest in playing professionally. ''I'd taken a lot of punishment and I knew how rough the pro game could be,'' he said. He had just married Estelle Morgolin, his high school sweetheart, and planned to join his brother in the family trucking business.
But Halas was persistent. He had traded a player named Edgar (Eggs) Manske to Pittsburgh to gain the National Football League's second draft choice for 1939. He wanted Luckman. Halas coaxed an invitation to the Luckmans' tiny apartment, and Estelle made dinner for all of them. During the meal, Halas offered a $5,500 salary and produced a contract that Luckman signed.
He was worth it. After one apprentice season of playing more as a pass-throwing halfback than as a quarterback, Luckman had learned the intricate footwork and faking of the T-formation. He blossomed and so did the Bears. In 1940, they won the N.F.L. championship by routing the Washington Redskins, 73-0, in the title game.
It was the greatest team ever assembled in the era of one-platoon football. It took World War II to break up the Monsters of the Midway. And Luckman was the field general throughout.
Luckman was ''another coach on the field,'' Halas said. The quarterback had more than 350 plays of the Bears' complex offense catalogued in his rapid-fire mind. That offense became the standard for pro and college football in the next decade. In fact, when Luckman quit playing pro ball, he helped install the T-formation at Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Holy Cross and Columbia.
Luckman played for three other championship Chicago teams, in 1941, 1943 and 1946. Three times he led the league in touchdown passes, in 1943, 1945 and 1946.
In 1943, when Luckman was leading the Bears to an 8-1-1 record, Chicago went to New York for a regular-season game. It was deemed Sid Luckman Day at the Polo Grounds. The New York fans presented him with a $1,000 war bond and Luckman, who had grown up a Giants fan in Brooklyn, proceeded to put on a one-man show for the hometown fans.
He threw for 453 yards against the Giants in a 56-7 rout, the worst loss in Giants history at the time. It was the first time a quarterback had thrown for more than 400 yards in a game. In that game, he also threw a record seven touchdown passes.
''He was the best all-around football player that New York City ever developed,'' said the former track star and sports broadcaster, Marty Glickman. Glickman was a member of the Madison High football team that played Luckman's Erasmus team twice for the city title, winning once. In 1995, the football field at Erasmus was renamed in Luckman's honor.
Luckman took to stardom gracefully. He was a gentle, modest and thoughtful man who was immensely popular. In one game during the Bears' heyday, the 250-pound guard Ray Bray confessed to Luckman in the huddle that he would cherish the chance to score a touchdown. The Bears were a yard short of the goal line at the time. Luckman called on Bray to carry the ball a la William (The Refrigerator) Perry. Bray was ground into the dirt still a yard short of the goal line.
Luckman was gracious to his teammate. ''Get back where you belong, chum,'' he said mildly and then handed the ball to one of his powerful backs for the score.
Five times Luckman was voted to the All-Pro team in competition with such stars as Sammy Baugh of the Redskins, Paul Christman of the Chicago Cardinals and Bob Waterfield of the Los Angeles Rams. He also was chosen most valuable player of the 1943 season.
After 12 seasons with the Bears, Luckman retired in 1950 but remained close to the Bears and Halas, who called him ''Son'' for many years. ''He was like a second father to me,'' Luckman said of Halas.
Luckman had earlier launched a successful business career in Chicago. He had a long association with the packaging industry and a firm called Cellu-Craft Products, which he later headed.
He is survived by a son and two daughters. His wife died in 1981.
Sid Luckman, Star for the Bears, Dies at 81
By WILLIAM N. WALLACE JULY 6, 1998
Sid Luckman, the Columbia University star and quarterback of the great Chicago Bears teams of the 1940's who helped trigger a revolution in how the game of football was played, died yesterday at Aventura (Fla.) Hospital and Medical Center. Luckman, who lived in Aventura, was 81.
Luckman, playing for George Halas, the owner and coach of the Bears, turned the modern T-formation into a formidable weapon and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965.
Bob Zuppke, the great Illinois coach, once said of Luckman, ''He was the smartest football player I ever saw, and that goes for college or pro.''
New Yorkers followed Luckman from the time he was a much-publicized schoolboy at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn.
''When I grew up in Flatbush,'' Luckman once told a reporter, ''we played football, stickball and baseball all the time, right out there on the city streets. Football was my favorite.''
Luckman, highly recruited out of high school, spurned about 40 college offers to play at Columbia. He had planned to attend Navy, but was attracted by the dynamic Lou Little, the Lions' coach.
Navy was playing Columbia at Baker Field and Rip Miller, the Navy athletic director, who was personally recruiting Luckman, first took him into the Navy locker room and then the Columbia locker room.
''As soon as I met Lou Little, I knew I wanted to play for him,'' Luckman once recalled. ''Columbia had no athletic scholarships then, so I had to work my way through -- painting walls and washing dishes in the fraternity house for room and meals.''
Luckman's all-America efforts for mediocre Columbia teams caught the eyes of the Bears' Halas, who had a plan that changed football forever.
Luckman was in the right place at the right time as the Bears introduced a modern version of the T-formation offense, which promoted passing and put emphasis on speed and deception in place of brute strength. The T-formation had existed years before Luckman came onto the scene, but it was the versatile quarterback who gave it such a thunderous impact on the game. He was not a speedy athlete, but he made up for it with his sense for the game.
A single-wing tailback in college, Luckman had no initial interest in playing professionally. ''I'd taken a lot of punishment and I knew how rough the pro game could be,'' he said. He had just married Estelle Morgolin, his high school sweetheart, and planned to join his brother in the family trucking business.
But Halas was persistent. He had traded a player named Edgar (Eggs) Manske to Pittsburgh to gain the National Football League's second draft choice for 1939. He wanted Luckman. Halas coaxed an invitation to the Luckmans' tiny apartment, and Estelle made dinner for all of them. During the meal, Halas offered a $5,500 salary and produced a contract that Luckman signed.
He was worth it. After one apprentice season of playing more as a pass-throwing halfback than as a quarterback, Luckman had learned the intricate footwork and faking of the T-formation. He blossomed and so did the Bears. In 1940, they won the N.F.L. championship by routing the Washington Redskins, 73-0, in the title game.
It was the greatest team ever assembled in the era of one-platoon football. It took World War II to break up the Monsters of the Midway. And Luckman was the field general throughout.
Luckman was ''another coach on the field,'' Halas said. The quarterback had more than 350 plays of the Bears' complex offense catalogued in his rapid-fire mind. That offense became the standard for pro and college football in the next decade. In fact, when Luckman quit playing pro ball, he helped install the T-formation at Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Holy Cross and Columbia.
Luckman played for three other championship Chicago teams, in 1941, 1943 and 1946. Three times he led the league in touchdown passes, in 1943, 1945 and 1946.
In 1943, when Luckman was leading the Bears to an 8-1-1 record, Chicago went to New York for a regular-season game. It was deemed Sid Luckman Day at the Polo Grounds. The New York fans presented him with a $1,000 war bond and Luckman, who had grown up a Giants fan in Brooklyn, proceeded to put on a one-man show for the hometown fans.
He threw for 453 yards against the Giants in a 56-7 rout, the worst loss in Giants history at the time. It was the first time a quarterback had thrown for more than 400 yards in a game. In that game, he also threw a record seven touchdown passes.
''He was the best all-around football player that New York City ever developed,'' said the former track star and sports broadcaster, Marty Glickman. Glickman was a member of the Madison High football team that played Luckman's Erasmus team twice for the city title, winning once. In 1995, the football field at Erasmus was renamed in Luckman's honor.
Luckman took to stardom gracefully. He was a gentle, modest and thoughtful man who was immensely popular. In one game during the Bears' heyday, the 250-pound guard Ray Bray confessed to Luckman in the huddle that he would cherish the chance to score a touchdown. The Bears were a yard short of the goal line at the time. Luckman called on Bray to carry the ball a la William (The Refrigerator) Perry. Bray was ground into the dirt still a yard short of the goal line.
Luckman was gracious to his teammate. ''Get back where you belong, chum,'' he said mildly and then handed the ball to one of his powerful backs for the score.
Five times Luckman was voted to the All-Pro team in competition with such stars as Sammy Baugh of the Redskins, Paul Christman of the Chicago Cardinals and Bob Waterfield of the Los Angeles Rams. He also was chosen most valuable player of the 1943 season.
After 12 seasons with the Bears, Luckman retired in 1950 but remained close to the Bears and Halas, who called him ''Son'' for many years. ''He was like a second father to me,'' Luckman said of Halas.
Luckman had earlier launched a successful business career in Chicago. He had a long association with the packaging industry and a firm called Cellu-Craft Products, which he later headed.
He is survived by a son and two daughters. His wife died in 1981.
