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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | | WHEREAS, The upcoming 2019-20 National Football League |
| 3 | | (NFL) season will be the 100th season of play for the Chicago |
| 4 | | Bears, a
charter member of the NFL since the team's inception |
| 5 | | in 1920; and
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| 6 | | WHEREAS, The Chicago Bears are truly "Illinois' pro team"; |
| 7 | | they were founded in Decatur as the
Staleys and played in |
| 8 | | central Illinois during their inaugural year before moving to |
| 9 | | Chicago in 1921; they changed their name to the Bears in 1922; |
| 10 | | and
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| 11 | | WHEREAS, The founding of the Bears, their move to Chicago, |
| 12 | | and their groundbreaking first decade as
a professional |
| 13 | | football team were the work of George S. Halas, an Illinois |
| 14 | | native who, during the
course of his 63-year career, played |
| 15 | | for, coached, and owned the Bears; and
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| 16 | | WHEREAS, As an innovator, George S. Halas created and |
| 17 | | managed professional football coaching as an
institution; he |
| 18 | | and the Bears pioneered daily practice sessions, the use of |
| 19 | | cameramen and game films,
the hiring and use of offensive and |
| 20 | | defensive coordinators and assistant coaches, and the
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| 21 | | development of player formations that made it possible for a |
| 22 | | quarterback and his fellow players to
create ball targets in |
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| 1 | | two or more separate directions and thus dominate the field of |
| 2 | | play; and
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| 3 | | WHEREAS, George S. Halas's work as a principal founder, not |
| 4 | | only of the Chicago Bears but of
professional football in the |
| 5 | | United States as a whole, made him one of the immortal figures |
| 6 | | in American sports; in
1963, he was named as one of the |
| 7 | | inaugural class of honorees in the Pro Football Hall of
Fame in |
| 8 | | Canton, Ohio; beginning with the 1984-85 season, the NFL's |
| 9 | | National Football Conference named its conference championship |
| 10 | | trophy, a team's symbolic ticket to the Super Bowl, the George |
| 11 | | Halas
Trophy; and
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| 12 | | WHEREAS, The Chicago Bears have hoisted the George S. Halas |
| 13 | | Trophy twice, most recently on January 21, 2007 as the NFC |
| 14 | | champions for the 2006-07 NFL season and even more
memorably on |
| 15 | | January 12, 1986 as the NFC champions for the 1985-86 NFL |
| 16 | | season, after a game in which they
defeated the Los Angeles |
| 17 | | Rams by a score of 24 to 0 on the way to their victory in
Super |
| 18 | | Bowl XX; and
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| 19 | | WHEREAS, "Da Bears" of Super Bowl XX, under head coach Mike |
| 20 | | Ditka, legendary Hall of Famer
Walter Payton, quarterback Jim |
| 21 | | McMahon, Super Bowl MVP Richard Dent, and other players too
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| 22 | | numerous to mention, forced their way onto America's television |
| 23 | | screens and became
"America's team"; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, As the Chicago Bears fought their way to Super |
| 2 | | Bowl XX, they carried the initials
"GSH" on the upper left |
| 3 | | sleeves of their jerseys as a tribute to the inspiring life of |
| 4 | | George S. Halas, and team members have continued to do so to |
| 5 | | this day; and
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| 6 | | WHEREAS, Virginia Halas McCaskey, George S. Halas's |
| 7 | | daughter, has presided over the team
as owner for more than |
| 8 | | three decades, including the Super Bowl XX championship season; |
| 9 | | she has carried on
the Halas heritage and principal ownership |
| 10 | | of the Chicago Bears into their 100th season of
professional |
| 11 | | football; and
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| 12 | | WHEREAS, Virginia Halas McCaskey accepted the George S. |
| 13 | | Halas Trophy when the Chicago Bears won the NFC championship on |
| 14 | | January 21, 2007; and
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| 15 | | WHEREAS, In recognition of their 100th season and of the |
| 16 | | 100-season history of the Chicago
Bears, the NFL has invited |
| 17 | | the Chicago Bears to kick off the 2019-20 season; and
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| 18 | | WHEREAS, This game will be played on Thursday, September 5, |
| 19 | | 2019, at Soldier Field in
Chicago, with the Bears hosting a |
| 20 | | team from the neighboring state of Wisconsin; therefore, be it
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE |
| 2 | | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that |
| 3 | | we congratulate the men who have played and coached for the |
| 4 | | Chicago Bears, the men and women who have been part of the |
| 5 | | Chicago Bears organization, and the great fans who have |
| 6 | | supported them for a century, for their parts in the story of |
| 7 | | an organization that has become a touchstone of Illinois' |
| 8 | | identity; and be it further
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| 9 | | RESOLVED, That we remember, with admiration and gratitude, |
| 10 | | the men and women of the Chicago
Bears family who have moved |
| 11 | | through the excitement of their lives; and be it further
|
| 12 | | RESOLVED, That we pay tribute to the Chicago Bears |
| 13 | | organization for their 100-year history and
their contribution |
| 14 | | to the identity of Illinois and its people; and be it further
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| 15 | | RESOLVED, That we look forward to many wins and |
| 16 | | championships in the future of the Chicago
Bears, a future |
| 17 | | which will be even brighter than its past; and be it further
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| 18 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be |
| 19 | | presented to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, owner of the |
| 20 | | Chicago Bears Virginia Halas McCaskey, Chairman George H. |
| 21 | | McCaskey, President and CEO Ted Phillips, General Manager Ryan |
| 22 | | Pace, Head Coach Matt Nagy, and the 2019-20 Chicago Bears |