The Past, The Present, And The Future Of The Da Bears

 Did you hear? The Bears are moving. No, not the Grizzly kind that inhabit our national Parks looking for picnic goodies. I am talking about the infamous “Monsters of the Midway” Chicago Bears of NFL fame. The NFL franchise Chicago Bears have announced that they are abandoning their lakeside home at Soldier Field in downtown Chicago and moving to Arlington Heights, a suburban town 25 miles northwest of Chicago. 

The site is the former home of Arlington Park Race Track... a 326 acre property, which the Bears purchased in 2023 for 197.2 million dollars. Plans call for ground breaking later this fall after the details are ironed out with the City of Arlington Heights and the Illinois State Legislature, with the goal of a domed stadium to be completed for the 2030 season.

Growing up in Arlington Heights, I am quite familiar with the property. I worked at Arlington Park in the summer of 1967 delivering racing form programs to the vendors at the race track after my freshman year at college. I was one of the lucky ones, as many of my friends were assigned to track detail cleaning up horse manure.

It was a well known fact that if a horse took a healthy number two on the track before the big race, he was well worth a $2 bet to win that day! I also learned a phrase from my Arlington Park days, “Man, I’ve got to pee like a race horse.” 

One of my benefits for a good job delivering racing forms was a vendor slipping me a racing form or two, which I would quickly turn into a $2 bet myself.

After three weeks on the job, I landed a construction job as a carpenter’s helper building the Arlington Park Hilton, just south of the track. It has since been torn down, as has the Grandstand, the horse barns and the circular track. What remains is hallowed empty (and well fertilized) land, waiting for 53 Bears to roam the premises in front of 70,000 screaming NFL fans.

The Bears have a long history of NFL success, being one of the original 14 franchises when the NFL was formed in Canton, Ohio in 1920. Of those teams, only the Chicago Bears (original Decatur Staleys) and the Arizona Cardinals (original Racine Cardinals) still exist. Did you know that the Dayton Triangles were among the founding teams?

In 1985, the Bears had one of their greatest seasons, going `15-1 and winning Super Bowl XX in New Orleans. Coached by Mike Ditka, himself a former star player, the Bears became the talk of the town.

Saturday Night Live even did a comedy sketch of three rabid Bears fans dressed in Mike Ditka attire (sleeveless Bears' sweater vest with Ditka mustache) talking football in their familiar Chicago accent. The scene always ended with the three fans toasting a beer mug and exclaiming, “Da Bears” to a laughing audience.

Ask any Bears fan how many NFL teams can you name that start with the letter “D.” Their answer would be the three obvious teams (Detroit, Dallas, Denver), and then, they will rattle off the other twenty-nine teams. You know, da Bengals, da Vikings, da Packers, and on and on.

So how did the Bears (or da Bears) become the “Monsters of the Midway, you might ask? Let me introduce you to a player named Dick Plasman, who epitomized the toughness of the Bears. Playing for the Bears in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, Plasman was the last NFL player to NOT wear a helmet.

Plasman was an All Pro receiver out of Vanderbilt University (he once dated Dinah Shore in college) who came to the Bears in 1938. In his rookie year, he took a swing at Redskins quarterback Sammy Baugh that resulted in a near player riot on the field that even involved Bears owner-coach George Halas and Redskins owner George Preston Marshall. (Not wearing a helmet, I am sure Plasman took the worst of it.)

Then in 1938, Plasman met his match. Going for an overthrown forward pass, he ran into the brick wall in the end zone at Wrigley Field, knocking him out. Two days later, he woke up in the hospital, wrapped in bandages (resembling a helmet. The irony!). He had an ugly scar on his head and a pug nose to boot.

The story had a happy ending though, as he married his nurse!

So how do I know so much about Dick Plasman? Having a beer with my dad at Eddie’s Lounge in Arlington Heights in the mid 70’s, I was introduced to Plasman sitting at the end of the bar enjoying a cold brew. My dad and Plasman became bar buddies. My dad even took Plasman’s daughter as his second wife a year later, making me a relative in a weird sort of way.  The marriage lasted six months. I guess my dad hit a brick wall as well.

In the year 2030, when the Bears new domed stadium in Arlington Heights is christened, I will have fond memories of what used to be at that site. Seeing the jockeys mount their horses in the Paddock and parading single file to the race course. The thrill of galloping thoroughbreds racing to the finish line! The anticipation of having the winning ticket and cashing in at the pay window. The agony of your horse missing out in a photo finish.

However, one thing is for certain. Your odds of picking a winner at the Inaugural Bears game in 2030 will be a lot greater than picking a winner at any horse race at Arlington Park.

So good luck, Bears in your new home! You will be building new memories and carrying on the tradition that George Halas started in 1920.

Da end.

More News from Springboro

• RIVERBOAT ADVENTURE IN NEWPORT River Roots Festival maybe over, but watching boats on the river lives on
• Mini Moos Bring Udder Delight to Memory Care Seniors Animal interactions offer many benefits for those living with dementia like Louse Plummer.