Before the 2019 season, the Bears held a celebration to mark the 100th season of the NFL. It was fitting for the charter franchise of the league to throw a giant party. During the celebration, chairman George McCaskey announced the team would be wearing throwback jerseys modeled after ones the team wore in 1936. There was only one problem: Those uniforms debuted during a period when the NFL was excluding Black players.
Chicago sports historian Jack Silverstein wrote an incredibly researched piece examining what role, if any, founder George Halas played in this era of segregation. At a time when the Bears wanted to celebrate their past, they were being haunted by it. It was a humiliating moment.
