Sunday, January 21, 2007

¡GO BEARS!


In honor of today's big Bears win we bring you this rare photograph of a Goodbye Girl-era Dreyfus (Caca's brother) and Papa Bear George Halas -- one of the founders of the National Football League.

Says Drey:


I found this old pic of Papa Bear George Halas and myself from 1981.
No comments regarding the glasses, please! They were cool then.
It was some sort of party, and at that point, Papa Bear was in a wheel chair. We spent some time talking, as he wanted to know what I did for a living, etc. And he wanted to get away from his grandson, who was wheeling him around to meet people, and have a swig of whiskey.


Actually you can say what you want about Drey's giant goggles, since that's why we have a "comments" section.


Some George Halas triva:

-Both of Halas' parents were Lebanese. He was born in Chicago.

-Nonetheless he stood in the way of integrating the NFL in the 1930's by refusing to sign black players for the Bears. According to Wikipedia, "Fritz Pollard, who in the 1920s was the league's first African-American coach, blamed Halas for keeping him out of the league in the 1930s and 1940s. Halas eventually changed course and helped to integrate the league, drafting the NFL's first black player since 1933, George Taliaferro, although Taliaferro did not play for the Bears; Halas later signed Willie Thrower, who with the Bears became the league's first black quarterback."

That's a good one -- a quarterback named Thrower.




¡EXTRA POINTS!



We also bring you this dirgelike update of 1985's brilliant Superbowl Shuffle. This one was written by Chicago Magazine editor Jeff Ruby. The "music" (minus the tuba) was done by local beatboxer Yuri Lane -- whom we profiled for Chi-mag back in 2005. Yuri uses nothing but his mouth, hands and body to make the sounds and looks very good in blue.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:23 AM

    This picture of Dreyfuss and Halas should be hanging in Halas Hall

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9:57 AM

    That Dreyfuss guy is hot.

    ReplyDelete