Virginia McCaskey’s passing is said to be creating a crisis. Virginia McCaskey, the major owner of the Chicago Bears for more than 40 years, has away. She acquired the team from her father, George Halas, but stayed out of the public eye. She was 102 years old.
The crew was informed by McCaskey’s family that she passed away on Thursday. Since her father’s passing on October 31, 1983, she has been the Bears’ owner.
The family stated, “Although we are sad, we find solace in the knowledge that Virginia Halas McCaskey lived a long, full, and religious life and is now with the love of her life on earth.” “She oversaw the Bears for forty years, making all business decisions with the best interests of the team’s players, coaches, employees, and supporters in mind.”
McCaskey maintained the NFL in family hands, just like her father, who was a co-founder of the league. Her oldest son, Michael McCaskey, was given operational authority and the title of president by her. He remained as chairman until his brother, George McCaskey, took over in 2011.
The Bears won a Super Bowl in 1986 under her leadership and lost another 21 years later.
“The matriarch of the Chicago Bears, Virginia Halas McCaskey, daughter of NFL founder George Halas, leaves a legacy of class, dignity, and humanity,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement. Her guiding principles were faith, family, and football, in that order, and she lived by the straightforward maxim to always “do the right thing.” She loved the Bears her father founded, and he would have been proud of her for carrying on the family business with such enthusiasm and dedication. The families of McCaskey and Halas, as well as Bears supporters worldwide, are in our prayers and thoughts.
George, Patrick, Brian, and Ed, McCaskey’s four sons, are still on the Bears’ board of directors. According to a recent Forbes.com estimation, the squad is valued $6.4 billion.
The eldest of Halas’s two children, McCaskey, never imagined herself in a leadership role. In 1979, her brother George “Mugs” Halas Jr., who was being prepared to lead the squad, passed away unexpectedly after a heart attack.
After her father passed away in 1983, McCaskey took over as owner, and Halas was followed as chairman by her late husband, Ed McCaskey. Michael, the oldest of her eleven children, took over shortly after.
In a rare interview in 2006, McCaskey stated, “I think it’s important that all of our family remembers that we really haven’t done anything to earn this.” “We are merely the heirs to an amazing heritage. When I use the word “custodian,” we want to convey it as effectively as possible. We’ve spent a lot of time working on that.
The board of directors’ secretary was McCaskey’s official title. As the family’s matriarch, she occasionally had last say over team decisions despite her normally detached demeanor and limited public profile. Virginia McCaskey’s passing is said to be creating a crisis.
In 1987, the children of “Mugs” Halas filed a lawsuit, which was settled by purchasing their interests of the company. A more recent reminder came in December 2014, when George McCaskey announced the firings of coach Marc Trestman and general manager Phil Emery during a news conference, and was asked to clarify his mother’s participation in the process.
He hesitated, finding it difficult to express her dissatisfaction with the team’s consistently declining fortunes and the recently concluded 5-11 season.
“She’s angry,” George McCaskey declared. “That term doesn’t seem appropriate for a 91-year-old woman, but in this instance, I can’t think of a better one.
A little later, he continued, “Virginia McCaskey has been here for eight of the Bears’ nine championships, and she wants more.” She believes that too much time has passed since the previous victory (the Super Bowl), and her kids, grandkids, and great-grandchildren all share her discontent. She has had enough of mediocrity. She believes that she and all Bears supporters are entitled to better.
In all honesty, Virginia McCaskey became a fan. Family members claim that when the Bears lost on Sundays, she frequently refused to offer dessert. She recalls going to the league’s first-ever playoff game at the age of nine in that same 2006 interview.
The league added a game to decide a champion after the Bears and Portsmouth Spartans ended the 1932 season in a first-place tie. The game was relocated indoors to the old Chicago Stadium due to snow, and the Bears triumphed 9-0 on an 80-yard field that was right up against the walls.
“I recall that one of my cousins had saved his ticket stub, but I didn’t,” McCaskey recalled. The cost of the ticket was $1.25, and we were seated on the second balcony.
“I don’t know what happened to it after I took it to one of the Super Bowls to show (former Commissioner) Pete Rozelle,” she continued. “But it’s okay.”
In 2005, she launched the Bears Care program during her time as the team’s owner. According to the Bears, Bears Care has awarded grants totaling over $31.5 million to 225 eligible organizations in an effort to enhance the lives of people in the Chicago region, particularly underprivileged kids and their families. Additionally, Bears Care funded health awareness campaigns about ovarian and breast cancer. Virginia McCaskey’s passing is said to be creating a crisis.
Three daughters and eight sons made up McCaskey’s eleven offspring. Her daughters Ellen (Barney) Tonquest, Mary, and Anne (Mike) Catron survive her, as do her sons Patrick (Gretchen), Edward Jr. (Kathy), George (Barbara), Richard, Brian (Barbara), and Joseph. In addition, she has four great-great-grandchildren, forty great-grandchildren, and twenty-one grandchildren.
