When the Bears Were Young Lions
December 17, 1933 CHICAGO (AP) - In a sensational forward passing battle the Chicago Bears won the national professional football championship today by beating the New York Giants, 23 to 21. The game was witnessed by 30,000 at Wrigley Field. George Halas's Bears, trailing by 21 to 16, seized victory out of the air in the dramatic closing minutes of the game. Billy Karr, right end, who learned his football at West Virginia, plucked a long lateral pass and, eluding two Giant tacklers who chased him desperately, galloped 25 yards for the deciding score.
The game was a thrilling combat of forward passing skill, desperate line plunging and gridiron strategy that kept the chilled spectators on their feet in constant excitement. The lead changed hands six times during the furious sixty minutes of play, with first the Bears holding command and then the Giants taking it away from them. The struggle was a revelation to college coaches who advocate no changes in the rules. It was strictly an offensive battle and the professional rule of allowing passes to be thrown from any point behind the line of scrimmage was responsible for most of the thrills.
The Bears' attack was led by Bronko Nagurski, former University of Minnesota plunging fullback, who individually gained 65 yards in fourteen attempts and started the forward-lateral pass that was responsible for the winning touchdown. A notable performance was turned in also by Jack Manders. The former Gopher kicked three goals from placement, one for 40 yards in four attempts, and added a goal after touchdown for a total of ten points. Harry Newman, Michigan's all-American quarterback in 1932, was the outstanding star in the Giants' attack. He tossed seventeen passes, completing twelve for a total of 201 yards.
Hailed as the greatest offensive teams in professional football, the rivals did not waste any time in proving it, although the gridiron was slippery, particularly the grassy spots, because of mist and fog that hung over the field as the game started. No sooner did the Bears get the ball than they went right down the field. Two field goals by Manders, from the 16- and 29-yard lines, and a touchdown by the Giants' Badgro on a 29-yard pass from Newman put New York ahead by 7 to 6 at the half.
The third quarter ended with the Bears taking the lead, 16 to 14, having chalked up a touchdown with amazing speed in six plays. The Giants, however, struck back on the kickoff. They took the ball on the 26- yard line, and with a passing attack carried to the 8-yard line. There Newman wound up the spectacular display by tossing a pass to Ken Strong in the end zone for a touchdown. Strong added the extra point, and the Giants led, 21 to 16.
Then came the thrilling climax. The Bears, apparently beaten, took to the air. The first pass, Molesworth to Brumbaugh, brought the ball to the 32-yard line. The next one, hurled from the line of scrimmage, Nagurski to Hewitt, was followed by a long lateral to Karr. He caught it out in the open and started for the Giants' goal. Ken Strong and another Giant tore after him, but Ronzani, formerly of Marquette University, knocked Strong out of the way and Karr raced across the goal with the winning points.
George Halas coached the Bears for 40 years, retiring in 1967 with six N.F.L. titles.
1984: Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins (see March 13) capped the most spectacular single-season passing display in history when he threw four touchdown passes in a 28‚21 victory over the Dallas Cowboys at the Orange Bowl. Marino, in his second year as a pro, finished the regular season with a record 48 touchdown passes and 5,084 yards in the air.
1960: Charles O. Finley, an insurance man from Gary, Ind., received American League permission to buy the hapless Kansas City A's. He moved them to Oakland in 1968 and continued his P.T. Barnum‚like changes, experimenting with orange baseballs and dressing the team in yellow and green. His players won three world championships (1972‚74) after he paid them to grow mustaches (see Oct. 17).
1964: Six weeks after CBS-TV bought controlling interest in the Yankees, attesting to the increasing influence of television networks in sports, Mel Allen, the long time radio and television voice of the team, was fired by his new masters. The man who made "How about that!" and the home run call of "Going, going gone!" familiar to listeners had called Yankee games since 1940.