George Halas, shown in 1963, fought fiercely to beat the Packers, but he also campaigned for a new Green Bay stadium. Credit: Packer Plus files

By ,

George Halas is synonymous with the Chicago Bears, a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who founded, played for and coached the franchise he loved.

"Papa Bear" also pioneered the growth and expansion of the National Football League and is one of the league's most revered figures. Halas was a fierce competitor and wanted badly to beat Chicago's most heated-rival Green Bay at every opportunity.

"Believe me, Coach Halas loved to beat the Packers," said Mike Ditka, former Bears tight end and head coach. "I had no clue about the rivalry, but I quickly found out. Every year, we had to play them twice, and those were the most important games of the year to him."

But Halas also had a soft spot for the league's smallest franchise.

"Coach Halas had tremendous respect for Vince Lombardi," Ditka said. "There may not have been any (love lost with Curly Lambeau), but he had great respect for Lombardi and the Packers organization."

Halas and Lambeau, two competitive and impatient men with large egos, went head-to-head from 1921-'49, setting the tone for one of the greatest rivalries in professional sports. But Halas also greatly valued the survival of struggling franchises to ensure the NFL grew and prospered.

Green Bay became an official professional franchise of the American Professional Football Association in 1921 (renamed the NFL in 1922), but lost the franchise after the first season due to illegal use of college players in a 20-0 loss to the Chicago Staleys (now Bears) on Nov. 27, 1921.

Green Bay was expelled from the league during its winter meeting in January 1922. While it was Halas who was instrumental in bringing the infractions to the league's attention, he also fought to reinstate the Packers.

Lambeau bought back the franchise in 1922 for a $250 fee, including $50 of his own money.

Green Bay returned the favor in 1932, when the Chicago franchise was struggling. According to the Packers media guide and the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Halas accepted a $1,500 loan from the Packers to meet his payroll.

"We (the players) always heard of the stories of the hard financial times for both the Packers and the Bears in the early days," said former Packers back Herm Schneidman, who played from 1935-'39.

"Lambeau hated to lose to the Bears, and Halas hated to lose to the Packers. Those guys could scream pretty good at us fellows during the games. It was pretty intense. Curly got all worked up leading up to the Bears game every time."

Green Bay faced tough times on and off the field at the end of Lambeau's tenure in the late 1940s. The Packers won their sixth world championship in 1944, but they had losing seasons in 1948 (3-9) and 1949 (2-10) and continued to struggle financially.

Lambeau fell out favor with the team's board of directors for the purchase of Rockwood Lodge as a training site in 1946 and was embroiled in an internal power struggle before resigning in 1950 to coach the Chicago Cardinals.

How ironic that Lambeau coached in the same city for two seasons against Halas, whose Bears were the superior franchise at the time. Green Bay endured the 1950s with three head coaches before hiring Lombardi from the New York Giants in 1959.

The team desperately needed a new stadium to replace City Stadium in the mid-1950s, and the league brass watched closely as it considered whether Green Bay could continue to be a viable NFL franchise.

Halas spoke at an emotional rally at the Columbus Club on March 31, 1956, in support of a new stadium as voters flocked to the polls to decide the stadium bonding funding issue.

More than 1,000 fans packed the auditorium to hear city officials, Lambeau, Halas, Gene Ronzani, Lisle Blackbourn, and former Packer Johnny "Blood" McNally and Tony Canadeo push for a "yes" vote to build a new stadium.

Headlines in the Green Bay Press-Gazette's issue stated, "Dramatic Appeals Made: Halas, Lambeau urge 'Yes' Vote at Pep Rally.

The "yes" vote prevailed and a new stadium was unveiled for the season opener in 1957 against the Bears, with Halas, who had stepped down as coach of the Bears for two seasons, in attendance.

Green Bay edged Chicago, 21-17, to complete a weekend celebration christening the only stadium in the country designed exclusively for football. A new stadium did not change the team's losing ways. They finished 3-9 in '57 and hit rock bottom in '58 with a 1-10-1 record under Ray "Scooter" McLean.

McLean was let go, and Packer President Dominic Olejniczak asked Halas for advice during the ensuing head coaching search. Halas endorsed Lombardi, a New York Giants assistant, stating "Lombardi is your man."

And the rest is history.

"George Halas was a towering figure in the NFL," former Green Bay guard Jerry Kramer said. "Without question, coach Lombardi had a lot of respect for Halas. More than respect, even a reverence."

On game days, both head coaches had a burning desire to win.

"We were pretty successful back then, but it was always a battle with Chicago and Papa Bear," Kramer said. "Ugly, tough games, like 9-6. George was a rascal and could give you some lip along the sideline, usually not fit to print.

"But they were two great coaches who had a lot of respect for each other and the Packers-Bears rivalry."

This story appeared in Packer Plus Magazine