Fact Check: Who Is Gsh on the Bears Uniforms and Why Is It on Every Jersey?

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Understanding the tribute requires examining how the franchise started. In 1920, the A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company, a starch producer in Decatur, Illinois, sponsored an athletic club named the Decatur Staleys. Company executives hired Halas to run the program and play end. Halas quickly recognized that independent barnstorming squads faced financial ruin without an organized, governed circuit.

In September 1920, Halas traveled to an automobile showroom in Canton, Ohio, joining representatives from thirteen other teams to establish the American Professional Football Association (APFA). Two years later, the organization renamed itself the National Football League.

Halas relocated the Staleys to Chicago in 1921, playing home matchups at Wrigley Field. To reflect a shared tenancy with baseball's Chicago Cubs, Halas reasoned that football players were naturally bigger than baseball players, renaming his roster the Bears in 1922. He acquired player contracts, drove team buses, scheduled road games, sold tickets at stadium gates, and designed offensive playbooks. Without his logistical persistence, the early league likely would have folded during the Great Depression.