Elmhurst Museum Digs Up a Century of Chicago Football Glory and Ghosts

A Sid Luckman game jersey on loan from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a football once kicked by Red Grange, and the scrapbook memories of a long-gone Elmhurst semi-pro squad are all landing under one roof this week. The Elmhurst History Museum opens “Bear Down: Football in the Windy City” on Friday, an exhibit that runs through Jan. 24 and stitches together more than a hundred years of Chicago-area football, from the NFL's oldest rivalries down to a local team that once played its home games a few blocks away.

The exhibition is a partnership between the Elmhurst History Museum and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, according to the Chicago Tribune. Curator of exhibits Sarah Cox spent two years assembling the show, working with Chicago Bears officials, the Hall of Fame itself, and private football memorabilia collectors, the Tribune reports. Among the borrowed items is a Sid Luckman jersey lent by the Hall of Fame, which Cox has singled out as her featured piece, per the same account.

Cox told the Tribune that the Bears organization now has staff dedicated specifically to preserving the team's heritage, a detail that helped shape how thoroughly the exhibit could document the franchise's sprawling history. That history, according to the Tribune, dates back more than a century and includes George Halas, who founded the Bears, coached the team for 40 seasons, and won 324 games along with eight NFL titles.

Red Grange, Sid Luckman and a Sold-Out Barnstorming Tour

Grange looms especially large in the exhibit. He played for the University of Illinois and later the Bears, and the show features Grange promotional items, a football, a doll, and even his football shoes, the Tribune notes. Grange reportedly scored six touchdowns against Michigan and began a barnstorming tour with the Bears on Thanksgiving Day in 1925 after Halas recruited him; that tour saw Grange and the Bears play 10 games in 18 days, then another eight or nine games afterward, per the Tribune's reporting. Decades later, Grange flipped the ceremonial coin to start Super Bowl XX in 1986 — the game the Tribune notes was won by the so-called Super Bowl Shuffle Bears.

Luckman's contributions get their own spotlight too. The quarterback led the Bears to four NFL titles, according to the Tribune, and the exhibit also honors Virginia McCaskey — whose father was Halas — and former executive Jim Finks. The show additionally features Walter Payton, Brian Urlacher and Dick Butkus, rounding out a lineup of Bears figures spanning generations, per the Tribune.

The Cardinals, the Tigers and Chicago's Forgotten Rival Leagues

Long before the Bears had the city to themselves, Chicago was a battleground for competing pro football franchises. The Chicago Cardinals trace their roots to the Morgan Athletic Club, which began in Morgan Park in 1898, according to the Tribune, making the franchise — per the Pro Football Hall of Fame — the oldest continuously operating professional football team in the country. The Cardinals were Chicago's other NFL team until they moved to St. Louis in 1960, the Tribune reports, and the exhibit features items tied to Cardinals stars Ernie Nevers and Charley Trippi.

Nevers holds a record that has stood for nearly a century: on Thanksgiving Day in 1929, he scored all 40 points — six rushing touchdowns and four extra points — in a 40–6 Cardinals victory over the Bears at Comiskey Park, an individual single-game NFL scoring mark that remains unbroken, according to Pro Football Journal. The exhibit also delves into short-lived Chicago rivals largely lost to history, including the Chicago Tigers, who folded after losing to George Halas's Staleys during the inaugural 1920 American Professional Football Association season, per Rolling Stone Australia. That league was renamed the National Football League in 1922.

Also featured are the Chicago Rockets, who played in the rival All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1948 before becoming the Hornets for a final 1949 season ahead of the AAFC-NFL merger, according to the Tribune and Fun While It Lasted. That same AAFC also produced the Cleveland Browns, whose quarterback Otto Graham had played at Northwestern before turning pro, per the Tribune.

Elmhurst's Own Gridiron Legacy Gets Its Due

The exhibit doesn't stop at the professional ranks. It also includes the history of the Elmhurst Travelers, the hometown semi-pro team that played in Elmhurst from 1927 to 1968, according to the Tribune — though the Tribune elsewhere describes the club as based in Elmhurst for 41 seasons before eventually moving to Rockford. The Travelers faced other semi-pro Midwestern squads during their run, the Tribune notes.

College football gets its moment too. The exhibit covers the University of Chicago's football history, including seven Big Ten titles the university won between 1892 and 1924, per the Tribune, and the story of Jay Berwanger, who was both the first pick in the inaugural NFL Draft and the first Heisman Trophy winner in 1935. The exhibit also touches on the University of Illinois Homecoming Game, which took place on Oct. 18, 1924.

Fall Programming Builds Toward a Bears Legend's Visit

Sarah Ficek, marketing and communications specialist for the Elmhurst History Museum, said the exhibit will be fun and exciting, according to the Tribune. The museum has built a slate of programming around the opening, including an Aug. 28 concert by The Blooze Brothers and a Sept. 21 VIP tour of Wrigley Field, which served as the Bears' home stadium from 1921 to 1970, per the museum.

The headline event comes Oct. 23, when Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Hampton — a defensive tackle on the Bears' Super Bowl XX championship team who played 12 seasons and earned five All-Pro selections — will speak at a meet-and-greet at Elmhurst University, according to the Tribune. Attendance costs $45 per person, and guests can meet Hampton in person for an additional $20, per the Tribune's reporting.

The Elmhurst History Museum operates as a City of Elmhurst department inside the 1892 Glos Mansion, the former home of the city's first village president, according to the Elmhurst History Museum. General admission is free with a suggested $5 donation. The museum is located at 120 E. Park Avenue in Elmhurst and can be reached at 630-833-1457, per the Tribune.