Chicago Bears Owner, Matriark Virginia Halas McCaskey dies at 102

Virginia McCaskey, daughter of Chicago Bears founder George S. Halas, died Thursday at the age of 102, the team announced.
Daily Herald File Photo, 2011

Chicago Bears owner and matriarch Virginia Halas McCaskey died Thursday at the age of 102, announced Bears in a news message on Thursday morning.

McCaskey was the daughter of the team’s founder, coach and NFL legend George S. Halas. She has been the most important owner of the team since Halas died on October 31, 1983. The team has been in her family since George Halas took control of Decatur Staleys in 1921.

Born on January 5, 1923, McCaskey has been around the bears since she was a little girl.

She celebrated her 100 -year birthday in 2023 with a small family collection. Virginia and her husband, Ed McCaskey, married in 1943 and had 11 children, 21 grandchildren, 40 great -grandchildren and four great -grandchildren. Ed McCaskey died in 2003.

Few people have witnesses as much football history as McCaskey has up close. She accompanied her father on Red Grange Barnstorming Tour in 1925 and participated in the first indoor NFL game at Chicago Stadium in 1932. She was responsible for the organization during the Super Bowl race in 1985.

McCaskey has been leading the organization since her father’s death in 1983, but in recent years she mostly left the daily operation to her children. According to Bears’ website, she remained in the organization’s board until her death. After the death of Arizona Cardinals owner Bill Bidwell in 2019, McCaskey became the longest-ridden NFL owner.

The bears have always been a family -run business. Her father represented Decatur Staleys at the first meeting of the American Professional Football Association (which became NFL) in 1920 and became the team’s owner in 1921. Her brother, George “Mugs” Halas Jr. Death in 1979. Her husband, Ed McCaskey, was team chairman between 1983 and 1999, while her son Michael McCaskey was the team president during the same period.

In one of the more difficult decisions of her term of office, Virginia McCaskey essentially fired her son in 1999, and Michael McCaskey moved from president to chairman from 1999-2011. Michael’s younger brother George McCaskey is currently chairman and has been since 2011.

“While we are sad, we are comforted knowing Virginia Halas McCaskey lived a long, full, faithful life and is now with love for his life on earth,” the family said in a statement. “She led the bears for four decades and based every business decision on what was best for Bears players, coaches, staff and fans.”

The bears are in the midst of great change as an organization. The team is looking for its next home stadium with opportunities both in Arlington Heights and along the Chicago Lakefront. No matter where the team lands its next stadium agreement, the decision is sure to change the pro -sports landscape in Chicago.

The team hired Kevin Warren as his fifth president in 2023. He is the first exterior rent ever brought in to lead the organization. The previous four presidents were either part of the Halas-McCaskey family or were hired from the organization.

Bears began as a football team sponsored by AE Staley Manufacturing Company in Decatur in 1919. This was typical of how many teams began in the early days of professional sports. Halas took a job at the company after briefly playing baseball for New York Yankees in 1919. Halas was a player-coach for Staleys in 1920 and chose the orange and blue colors that matched his Alma Mater at the University of Illinois.

In 1921, the company gave Halas control of the company’s football team along with a $ 5,000 bonus to move the team to Chicago. The team moved to Cubs Park – later renamed Wrigley Field – and won his first NFL championship in 1921. In 1922, Halas changed the team’s name to Chicago Bears. Virginia was born just after the new year in 1923.

Losing the organization’s matriarch that has been involved since almost the beginning is a stroke that will be felt in Halas Hall and beyond.

Chicago Bears owner Virginia Halas McCaskey, Left, speaks, as former Chicago Bears and Hall of Fame Linebacker Brian Urlacher listens to a ring of expertise ceremony of the bears during the break in an NFL football match on Monday, September 17, 2018 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Associated Press