Chicago Bears matriarch Virginia Halas McCaskey passed away at the age of 102 years this Thursday.
Virginia was one of Bears founder George Halas’ two children and inherited the team after he died in 1983. Her brother, George “Mugs” Halas’ death four years earlier left her in line, and the elder George opted to pass the Bears down instead of selling.
The senior Halas bought the team—the Decatur Staleys back then—for $100 in 1920 and was at the infamous Canton, Ohio, meeting when the American Professional Football Association was founded. Two years later, it became the National Football League we know today. He renamed them the Bears in 1922.
The team announced Virginia’s passing in a social media post on Thursday afternoon.
Virginia made her husband Ed McCaskey the team Chairman shortly after her father’s death and made their son president and CEO. Ted Phillips replaced him after she chose to make Michael chairman in place of his father.
Ed died in 2003, just two months after they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.
Michael retired in 2010; his brother George took over thereafter.
Virginia Halas McCaskey Had A Plan To Keep The Team in Her Family
Virginia Halas McCaskey represented 13 family members owning around 80 percent of team shares and voted her family’s shares on the board of directors.
It is unclear how the voting block will be impacted in the wake of her death, but her son George has said on several occasions that this mother had a plan in place to keep the Bears in the family after she died.
The NFL requires each team to have a succession plan, but details are hardly publicized.
A devout Catholic, Virginia often quoted her son, Pat, who claimed the team would remain in the family until the “second coming” of Jesus Christ.
Our hearts go out to the Halas/McCaskey family and the Bears organization.
May she rest in peace.
