I thought George Halas first played pro football for the Hammond Pros in 1919. This article mentions he played for Massillon in 1915. Do you guys know which is correct? Massillon was known for hiring ringers, but it seems like the myth has grown a little bigger than the reality in my opinion - not everyone played there although as one of the best players in the game, they did hire Sacksteder for the '15 championship. One thing I never noticed about Halas is he was born in 1895, so it is a little odd we don't see him in pro football until '19 which puts him around 24. Maybe he was focussing on baseball?
https://www.bengals.com/news/new-dey-me ... -in-dayton
I hope these guys were able to find PFRA - we’ve written some about Sacksteder. I also have him as the #2 HB for ’15 to ’19. I know Bob has looked at some of his seasons as well - we could help these guys if they were interested. The article didn’t give any contact info though.
George Halas and Norb Sacksteder
Re: George Halas and Norb Sacksteder
Hi, TanksAndSpartans...I researched Halas' early life and career fairly extensively for my recently published book, War Football: World War I and the Birth of the NFL. (I just posted about this, and a couple other books, in the Football Books section.) It's highly unlikely...in fact, impossible...that Halas played for Massillon in 1915. The primary reason: Halas was injured. He missed the entire 1915 season with a broken jaw, and the 1916 season with a broken leg, injuries that were both suffered in preseason practice.
As a secondary reason, Halas really wasn't all that good as a football player by 1915! Or even at any time during his college career. During my research, I encountered articles (written long after the fact, with no sourcing to back them up) that said Halas was All-Big-Ten in college, and others that said he led Illinois to a Big Ten football championship. I had to go back to the original sources, and found that neither claim is remotely true. Illinois did win the Big Ten title in his sophomore year of 1915, but Halas was injured, on the bench, all year. Halas only played one season (his senior year, 1917) of varsity football; Illinois finished 5-2-1, 2-2-1 in conference play, and tied for 5th place in the Big Ten. Halas started all eight games: the first four (all wins) at halfback, and the last four (one win, two losses, and a tie) at end. He scored two TDs that season: One against Purdue, and one against Camp Funston. He also had a key interception that preserved a 7-0 win over Wisconsin. A solid player, and a starter, but far from a star.
It took World War I, and Halas' experience playing for the star-studded national champions from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in 1918, to turn Halas into a bona fide star. Walter Camp named Halas second-team All-Service, and he was retroactively named MVP of the Rose Bowl, which Great Lakes won, 17-0, over the previously undefeated Mare Island Marines. This made pro football a possibility, and led him to Hammond in 1919 - encouraged by his Great Lakes teammate Paddy Driscoll, first-team All-Service quarterback, who had played for Hammond in 1917 before joining the navy.
Halas was a little "old" to be a first-time pro for two reasons: First, he took a year off between high school and college, partly to earn some $$$ for college tuition and partly to develop a little more as an athlete. Second, he "lost" another year to his wartime service...though again, that wartime service really propelled him to football stardom, and made possible everything that he accomplished afterwards.
Hope that helps!
Chris Serb
As a secondary reason, Halas really wasn't all that good as a football player by 1915! Or even at any time during his college career. During my research, I encountered articles (written long after the fact, with no sourcing to back them up) that said Halas was All-Big-Ten in college, and others that said he led Illinois to a Big Ten football championship. I had to go back to the original sources, and found that neither claim is remotely true. Illinois did win the Big Ten title in his sophomore year of 1915, but Halas was injured, on the bench, all year. Halas only played one season (his senior year, 1917) of varsity football; Illinois finished 5-2-1, 2-2-1 in conference play, and tied for 5th place in the Big Ten. Halas started all eight games: the first four (all wins) at halfback, and the last four (one win, two losses, and a tie) at end. He scored two TDs that season: One against Purdue, and one against Camp Funston. He also had a key interception that preserved a 7-0 win over Wisconsin. A solid player, and a starter, but far from a star.
It took World War I, and Halas' experience playing for the star-studded national champions from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in 1918, to turn Halas into a bona fide star. Walter Camp named Halas second-team All-Service, and he was retroactively named MVP of the Rose Bowl, which Great Lakes won, 17-0, over the previously undefeated Mare Island Marines. This made pro football a possibility, and led him to Hammond in 1919 - encouraged by his Great Lakes teammate Paddy Driscoll, first-team All-Service quarterback, who had played for Hammond in 1917 before joining the navy.
Halas was a little "old" to be a first-time pro for two reasons: First, he took a year off between high school and college, partly to earn some $$$ for college tuition and partly to develop a little more as an athlete. Second, he "lost" another year to his wartime service...though again, that wartime service really propelled him to football stardom, and made possible everything that he accomplished afterwards.
Hope that helps!
Chris Serb
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TanksAndSpartans
- Posts: 1153
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Re: George Halas and Norb Sacksteder
Thanks Chris. Great post. I apologize for not following up, since I didn't get a response, I figured there wasn't any interest. Also, I didn't want to break the ice with these guys (Saxy's relatives) by pointing out mistakes - that wouldn't have been very friendly 
. They agreed it was an error. It was kept out of this article:
https://mavensports.io/talkoffame/state ... ocTe-L5fw/
Back to Halas, did you come across the photo of him and Potsy Clark (later coached Spartans and Lions) when they both had broken jaws at Illinois? Let me know if you are interested and I can dig it up for you. I also recall a Dan Daly post where he talked about Halas playing for the (baseball) Yankees - where does that fit into his career?
. They agreed it was an error. It was kept out of this article:https://mavensports.io/talkoffame/state ... ocTe-L5fw/
Back to Halas, did you come across the photo of him and Potsy Clark (later coached Spartans and Lions) when they both had broken jaws at Illinois? Let me know if you are interested and I can dig it up for you. I also recall a Dan Daly post where he talked about Halas playing for the (baseball) Yankees - where does that fit into his career?
Re: George Halas and Norb Sacksteder
Excellent! I did come across the Halas-Clark postcard - "The Order of the Broken Jaw" - but ultimately decided not to use it in my book because when I scanned it, it came out pretty pixellated. I did use a really good mug shot of Halas from Illinois' 1917 football program; a picture of Halas, Paddy Driscoll, and Charley Bachman in their Great Lakes uniforms; and Potsy Clark with his AEF Championship-winning team from the 89th Division.
Halas played for the Yankees in 1919, shortly after he got out of the navy. But he couldn't hit the curve, he only played 12 games before he got sent back down the the minors in St. Paul, Minn. He liked to say that he saw the writing on the wall when the Yankees traded for Babe Ruth...truth is, he probably could have stuck around the minors for awhile, with a few major league call-ups here and there. But when the Staley company hired him as athletic director in 1920, part of the deal that he would play baseball for the Staleys too, which was technically an "industrial" team but was probably the equivalent of Class A, or maybe even low AA, ball. The manager (and part-time pitcher, even though he was 49 years old!) was "Iron Man" Joe McGinnity, a World-Series winner and eventually a Baseball Hall-of-Famer. Halas played baseball for the Staleys in 1920 & 1921, but when the football team moved to Chicago in fall of 1921, he seems to have dropped baseball entirely to focus on football.
Halas played for the Yankees in 1919, shortly after he got out of the navy. But he couldn't hit the curve, he only played 12 games before he got sent back down the the minors in St. Paul, Minn. He liked to say that he saw the writing on the wall when the Yankees traded for Babe Ruth...truth is, he probably could have stuck around the minors for awhile, with a few major league call-ups here and there. But when the Staley company hired him as athletic director in 1920, part of the deal that he would play baseball for the Staleys too, which was technically an "industrial" team but was probably the equivalent of Class A, or maybe even low AA, ball. The manager (and part-time pitcher, even though he was 49 years old!) was "Iron Man" Joe McGinnity, a World-Series winner and eventually a Baseball Hall-of-Famer. Halas played baseball for the Staleys in 1920 & 1921, but when the football team moved to Chicago in fall of 1921, he seems to have dropped baseball entirely to focus on football.
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TanksAndSpartans
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Re: George Halas and Norb Sacksteder
Thanks Chris - great info about Halas.