With the passing of Chicago Bears proprietor Virginia Halas McCaskey on Thursday, an period has closed for the Bears and the Nationwide Soccer League.
Because the daughter of George Halas, McCaskey was one of many few threads nonetheless connecting the NFL’s previous to its current. Halas bought the Bears in 1920 and is taken into account one of many key architects of the early NFL days. One of many first inductees into the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame in 1963, Halas performed and coached for the Bears and adjusted soccer ceaselessly by implementing the T-formation offense within the late Thirties.
He owned the franchise for 63 seasons earlier than he died in 1983. Upon his loss of life, his eldest daughter, Virginia, succeeded him because the staff’s majority proprietor and oversaw the staff till her loss of life. Her final recreation as proprietor was a last-second win for the Bears over the archrival Inexperienced Bay Packers at Lambeau Subject within the 2024 regular-season finale, marking Chicago’s first win over the Packers since Dec. 16, 2018.