Longtime NFL owners share fond memories of Mrs. McCaskey

Story by Larry Mayer

For New York Giants president, CEO and co-owner John Mara, last week's NFL owners meetings just weren't the same without Virginia Halas McCaskey.

The only daughter of legendary Bears Hall of Fame founder George Halas, Mrs. McCaskey passed away Feb. 6 at the age of 102. Mara, 70, is a member of the third generation of a family that has owned the Giants since their inception in 1925.

"From the time I was a child coming to these meetings with my parents, I always remember Virginia being there with her husband, Ed, and their family has always been the closest friends with our family," Mara said. "Virginia and Ed were at my wedding. Ed actually sang at my wedding, and Virginia was just the epitome of class, grace and dignity, and she's somebody that will be missed very much.

"When I would come to these meetings every year, she was one of the first people I would look for. It just was a comforting feeling seeing her. She was somebody who was always glad to see you and always had a kind word. I'm going to miss seeing her at these meetings."

Mrs. McCaskey was born Jan. 5, 1923, less than three years after her father had founded the Bears as the Decatur Staleys and helped create what would become the NFL. No single individual witnessed as much pro football history as Mrs. McCaskey. As a toddler in 1925-26, she accompanied her dad and the Bears on the coast-to-coast Red Grange barnstorming tour that helped popularize the league.

In 1932, Mrs. McCaskey attended the NFL's first indoor game, watching the Bears capture the league championship by blanking the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 at Chicago Stadium. In the 1940s, she witnessed the "Monsters of the Midway" win four league titles while modernizing pro football with the introduction of the "T" formation.

Mrs. McCaskey assumed control of the Bears in her 60s upon her father's passing in 1983. The team followed by capturing five straight NFC Central Division championships from 1984-88 and capping a magical 1985 season with a 46-10 rout of the Patriots in Super Bowl XX. One of her proudest moments came when she was presented the George S. Halas Trophy after the Bears won the NFC title with a 39-14 victory over the Saints Jan. 27, 2007, at snowy Soldier Field.

Mrs. McCaskey attended Drexel University in Philadelphia, where she studied business management. It was there that she met her future husband, who was a student at the University of Pennsylvania and also sang in a band at local dance halls. She wed Ed McCaskey Feb. 2, 1943on her father's 48th birthday. Ed soon left for Europe to fight in World War II, serving in the Army.

The McCaskeys were married for 60 years until Ed passed away April 8, 2003, at the age of 83. Devout Catholics, they raised 11 children. Three of their sons currently work for the Bears: George is the team's chairman, while Patrick and Brian are vice presidents.

Like Mara, Pittsburgh Steelers owner and president Art Rooney II also has fond memories of Mrs. McCaskey and will miss catching up with her at league meetings.

"She was a wonderful person, just always interested in our family and what was going on with our family," said Rooney, 72, a member of the third generation of a family that has owned the Steelers since they were founded in 1933.

"She was a quiet but determined leader of the Bears for so many years and just was a positive impact on the whole league. Her loyalty to her family was obvious to everybody, and she was one of those people whose priorities were always faith, family and footballand pretty much in that order. She just was a great role model for everybody involved in the league."

Mrs. McCaskey and Patricia Rooney, Art's mother who passed away in 2021 at the age of 88, were featured together in a 2019 documentary entitled "A Lifetime of Sundays" that chronicled the story of four iconic female NFL owners.

"My mother really loved being part of that with Virginia," Rooney said. "It was a great memory and a great time for my mother to be part of that with her."

Rooney always felt a kinship with the McCaskeys and other families who have owned NFL teams for decades.

"We had a strong bond, for sure," Rooney said. "If there was an issue coming up in the league, certainly the Steelers, Bears, Giants and Cardinals wanted to know where each other stood on various subjects and would talk a lotand that continues to this day. It's been a long, close relationship, and it extends deep across league matters but certainly even beyond that."

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