Rose Bowl Hall of Fame
1919 Rose Bowl Game
2018 Inductee
George Halas was a three-sport athlete at the University of Illinois, but he played in the 1919 Rose Bowl Game as a member of the Great Lakes Navy. Halas led the Navy to a 17–0 win over the Mare Island Marines and was named MVP of the game. He scored on a 32-yard touchdown reception and added an interception that he returned for 77 yards—still the longest non-scoring interception return in a Rose Bowl Game.
Following his time in the Navy, Halas founded the Decatur Staleys, an original franchise in the American Professional Football Association in 1920. The Staleys moved to Chicago in 1921 and became the Chicago Bears in 1922, the same year the APFA became known as the NFL. Halas was the player-coach of the Bears through 1928. In all, he had four separate 10-year stints as the club’s head coach. His 324 wins (including postseason) as a head coach stood as an NFL record until 1993, and his total of six league championships remains tied for the most ever.
Halas, who was a charter inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963, died in 1983.
