The Chicago Bears, defending NFL Champions, were missing
several veteran players due to World War II military service as they faced the
College All-Stars on August 30, 1944. Owner/Head Coach George Halas was in the
service as well, with assistants Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnsos acting as
co-coaches. Fortunately for them, star QB Sid Luckman (pictured above) was available thanks to a
ten-day furlough from the Merchant Marine.
For the All-Stars, coached by Northwestern’s Lynn “Pappy”
Waldorf, Tulsa QB Glenn Dobbs was available on a 20-day furlough from the Army.
Due to relaxed wartime eligibility rules that allowed underclassmen to play,
Dobbs was making his second appearance in the annual contest. Other notable
players included HB Charlie Trippi from Georgia, Ohio State tackle Bill Willis,
guards Dick Barwegan of Purdue and Bruno Banducci from Stanford, Indiana QB Lou
Saban, and HB Steve Van Buren of LSU.
For the second straight year the game was played at
Northwestern University’s Dyche Stadium. There were 48,769 fans on hand in
rainy conditions for the Wednesday night contest. Chicago got the first break
when Charlie Trippi fumbled a punt and HB Ray Nolting recovered for the Bears
at the All-Star 36. However, the Bears were unable to capitalize and penalties
moved them back to midfield, from where they were forced to punt.
The All-Stars couldn’t move either but Dobbs booted the
ball 85 yards on a quick-kick punt that pinned the Bears at their own two yard
line. Chicago was forced to punt in turn and Luckman’s kick gave the All-Stars
good field position at the Bears’ 33. The All-Stars scored in four plays. Dobbs
threw to Notre Dame end John Yonakor for 30 yards to the Chicago three and,
after failing to cross the goal line on the next two plays, Dobbs passed to
another Notre Dame player, HB Creighton Miller, in the corner of the end zone for
a four-yard touchdown. Lou Saban added the extra point.
The Bears were forced to punt again and the All-Stars
again drove to a score, helped along by Indiana HB Billy Hillenbrand’s 32-yard
punt return. Dobbs completed two passes and, on a third down play, faded back
to pass but instead ran 12 yards and, at the one, fumbled but C John Tavener
from Indiana recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. Saban again added the
extra point and the All-Stars held a 14-0 lead.
With the game rapidly getting away from the Bears, the
defending champs put together a solid 80-yard drive in response. After HB Ray
“Scooter” McLean (pictured at right) ran for 11 yards, Luckman completed two passes, the longest to
Nolting for 21 yards as the first quarter ended. The Bears finally got on the
board on the fourth play of the second quarter when FB Gary Famiglietti ran for
a three-yard TD.
Two minutes later the All-Stars had to punt and Dobbs’
kick was partially blocked. Luckman threw to McLean to advance to the All-Star
14. On a fourth down play from the 12, end Jim Benton caught the game-tying
touchdown pass. Pete Gudauskas successfully converted following each score. Each
team had another shot to put more points on the board in the second quarter but
interceptions blunted the drives.
The halftime featured a tribute to college football
players serving in the military during World War II. In the darkened stadium,
entertainer Don Ameche took particular note of the six former All-Star
participants who had died during the conflict.
The All-Stars took the second half kickoff and went 65
yards to re-take the lead with Hillenbrand in for Dobbs. The drive featured
three pass completions and Saban ran for a one-yard TD and added the extra
point. The Bears responded with a 64-yard scoring drive of their own. Three
Luckman completions, the last to McLean for 16 yards, set up the scoring play
as McLean weaved his way to an 18-yard touchdown to again tie the score.
A Chicago punt pinned the All-Stars back at their eight
yard line. Dobbs tried another quick-kick, but with a torrential rain falling
the kick was partially blocked and the Bears took over at the All-Star 29. With
Famiglietti and McLean running effectively, Chicago moved inside the ten yard
line before the series stalled. Pete Gudauskas kicked a 14-yard field goal
early in the fourth quarter that gave the Bears the lead for the first time.
The All-Stars fought back during the final period and at
one point reached the Chicago 38 but Luckman intercepted a pass to snuff out
the threat. The Bears held on to win the hard-fought contest by a score of
24-21.
The Bears outrushed the All-Stars (143 to 73) and had the
edge in first downs (14 to 9) while the collegians went to the air more times
and gained more yards (146 to 128). However, four of their 32 passes were
intercepted. Along with a fumble, the All-Stars suffered five turnovers to just
two by the Bears. Neither team was able to mount a credible pass rush.
The win was the eighth thus far for the pro teams against
three for the collegians and two ties. The Bears were participants for the
fifth time and improved their record to 4-0-1.
In the season that followed, the Bears, who had topped
the Western Division for four straight years, fell into a tie for second place
with Detroit at 6-3-1. Sid Luckman was usually able to get away from his
Merchant Marine duties to play on Sundays, but a slow start kept Chicago behind
the Packers.
Glenn Dobbs (pictured below), the MVP for the All-Stars, returned to his
military duties and played service football before joining the All-America
Football Conference, where he played for Brooklyn and Los Angeles. He continued
to be a top passer and punter and went on to play in Canada after the AAFC’s
demise.
