There are eight things to learn about Virginia Halas McCaki, the lead owner of Chicago Beer.
1. Virginia McCaki’s parents were surprised that her first girl was a girl.
The founder and owner of the Beers admitted in the 1979 book, “I said – and therefore was Min (Minni, his wife).” George Halas. “” I already had a vision to draw my son into the bear’s thick. We did not even have a girl’s name. After some discoveries, we decided for our two grandmothers on Mary Barbara. But my brother Frank had already appropriated those names for his daughter.
“I filled the child’s birth certificate, left the name vacant. Many years later, after receiving a copy of his birth certificate for passport application, my daughter came to know that the name we had given was inserted into the Virginia Marion -pencil.
“He also learned that despite my full devotion to the bear, I was not yet sure that the world would respect the father’s father as the designation of the ‘football club owner, manager, coach and player’. Written in a more conservative career of ‘Civil Engineer’.
2. Red Granz secretly used her to previous fans.
Pro football was struggling to build an audience, so George Hallas, Red Granz and The Bears went on a 19-game, 66-day-day barnstorming tour to be interested during the winter of 1925.
And 3 -year -old Virginia McCaki went for the ride.
“We made the first part of the tour to help with our mother and her sister, my aunt Lil, together,” she told The Tribune. “And after the Games in Florida I think mother said: ‘This is (for me), you can go to California.”
As the interest was created, the Granj became a celebrity, and fans insisted to look at the beer when the team’s train was pulled into the cities.
If the Granj wanted to avoid the crowd, he would pick up Virginia.
In the NFL film “A Lifetime of Sunday”, McCaki said, “When the red grang got off the train, many people were waiting to see him that he decided that I could be his camouflage,” McCaki NFL The film said “A Lifetime of Sunday”. “If he wore a hat and took me away from the train, people would not recognize him. He found him through the crowd. ,
3. What does she remember from 1 NFL Championship game: ‘The Smell.’
In 1932, when she was 9, McCaki attended the NFL’s first championship game at the Chicago Stadium, where Beers beat the Spartons of Partsmouth, Ohio 9–0.
Nine decades later, McCaki did not hesitate when asked for the memory of the game, which was inside the house with an 8 -inch dirt on the concrete.
“Just smell,” he told the tribune. “It was almost heavy because the circus left the city only.”
4. She went to Drexel University – and studied in secretary studies.
McCaki enrolled in Drexel University in Philadelphia in 1939 when she was 16 years old and lived with her uncle Walter, who was the school’s football, baseball and basketball coach.
He said, “My father had allowed me to go to school.” I now realize what was the blessing to share my new year with my family. He brought me close to his five cousins. Uncle Walter was my Godfather. .
He studied in secretary studies, a department that the school started in 1914. His plan was to become secretary of his father.
Her Sophomore year she met her future husband Edward McCaki, who was attending Pennsylvania University. They married in 1943 and went to Des Plains, where they raised 11 children.
5. He never expected to be a boss.
Virginia was one of the two children of McCaki Halas. His younger brother, George Junior, known as “Mugs”, hoped that after his father’s death or turned into his successors.
“I just assumed that he would be going to take over for my father, and he put me in a great position,” he told The Tribune. “I will be able to enjoy all the allowances and there is no problem. But God had other plans for all of us. ,
George Halas Junior died in 1979, four years before his father, left his sister as in -charge of the team.
Virginia McCasky said, “Finally, it was here for its estate planning.” “A small paragraph was that ‘in matters related to football operation, Virginia would have the last word.” And for me this is his faith. ,
George Halas died in 1983.
Virginia McCaki now controls 80% bear stocks. On the team’s website, he is listed as the “Secretary”, although the formal title is the corporate secretary.
New York Giants President John Mara told The Tribune, “He has given such a great example of how the owners of professional teams should operate themselves with a calm dignity and love of their teams.” “Many of us have not followed that example.”
6. That fur coat has a history.
When McCaki received the George Halas Trophy after winning the NFC title in January 2007, she wore the same fur coat when her mother won the 1963 NFL title.
Former Tribune Beers Reporter Don Pearson said about Mackasky in the NFL film, “This is a guess how important this tradition and this legacy is to him.”
Asked what she remembers from the festival, she said: “On the stage, everyone was smiling and laughing and sings the beer fight song. And the way it should be things.
“I never felt cold.”
7. He removed his son as the team president.
During a news conference on 10 February 1999, Virginia McCasky named a new chairman and chief executive officer for Beers – excluded his eldest son, Michael from the situation. Ted Philips, members of the first non-Hellas or McCaki family to hold the title, are still president of the team.
Don Pearson of Tribune wrote, “She hides the big stick inherited from her father with the same cruelty that she hides so well under her reserved smile.”
Still Michael was not removed from the organization. Instead, he captured his 79 -year -old father, Ed, Job of Board Chairman. Virginia said in a 1999 Tribune story that she hoped that “Mike would be able to contribute well to the club and would be available for TED when Ted wants to consult him.” Michael retired in 2011.
At that time, Virginia said that it did not consider the reorganization of the team’s front office.
“You know when are sad days?” He said. “When we lose the game. They are sad days. ,
Nevertheless, when she thought of her father during this decision making process, she became emotional.
“Sure, this is always in my mind, and my mother and my brother,” he said.
Asked at that news conference, what would be his father’s response to the historical step, he replied: “Go, bear!”
8. Another honey bear: This was also his decision.
The Bears formed the Honey Beer CheerLeed/Dancing Team in 1975.
But Virginia McCaki was allegedly abolished the group at the end of its contract after the 1985 season.
The group’s founder and choreographer, Kathy Core said, “Michael McCassi (former Bears General Manager) said through Jerry Venissi: ‘Bears want to return to blood and gut football and get rid of Fulana,”. “I never met with Michael McCaki once. He never gave me a chance to meet him. Everything was done through Jerry. ,
“People credits me, or blame me,” Virginia McCaki wrote in “Beer Centennial Scrapbook”. “Michael came to me and said, ‘How would you feel about finishing honey bear?” … for me, it was always a distraction.
“They were not really cheerleaders. It was the past what happens in high school and college conditions. I always hope that our fans will be a football fan and will be interested in the team instead of trimming.