Sid Luckman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sid Luckman

Date of birth	November 21, 1916
Place of birth	Brooklyn, New York
Date of death	July 5, 1998 (aged 81)
Place of death	Miami Beach, Florida
Position(s)	Quarterback
College	Columbia
NFL Draft	1939 / Round 1/ Pick 2
Honors	NFL 1940s All-Decade Team
Stats
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1939-1950	Chicago Bears
College Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1965

Sid Luckman (November 21, 1916 - July 5, 1998) was an American football quarterback for the Chicago Bears from 1939 to 1950 leading the team to 4 NFL championships during that period.

He was instrumental in his team's record-setting win of 73-0 over the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL title game. Sportscaster Jimmy Cannon once said in reference to his years at Columbia, "You had to be there to realize how great Sid was."^{[citation needed]}

1 Biography
- 1.1 Early life
- 1.2 Chicago Bears
  - 1.2.1 The Draft
  - 1.2.2 The T-formation
2 Career stats
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Sidney Luckman was born November 21, 1916, in Brooklyn to Jewish German immigrants. He played both baseball and football for Erasmus Hall High School and Columbia University. At Columbia, he completed 180 of 376 passes for 2,413 yards and 20 touchdowns -- impressive numbers for that era. He finished third in the 1938 Heisman Trophy voting, losing to Davey O'Brien and Marshall Goldberg.

He was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1960.

[edit] Chicago Bears

[edit] The Draft

Chicago Bears owner and coach George Halas set out to restructure the offensive side of the game of football. Both at the college and pro levels, offenses were a drab scrum of running the ball with only occasional passes. The role of the quarterback still languished as running back who could, as a gimmick, toss a few passes. Most passing was done by the tailback in the predominant single-wing formation, and then usually only on third down with long yardage to go. Halas and his coaches invented a rather complex scheme building on the traditional T-formation, but needed the right quarterback to run it properly. Hearing of Sid Luckman's exploits at Columbia University, playing a schedule where they were under-sized, Halas traveled to New York to watch him play. Halas convinced the Pittsburgh Steelers to draft Luckman second overall and then trade him to the Bears. At first Luckman had little interest in pro football. Intrigued by the challenge of a new offense and Halas' $5000 salary offer, Luckman mastered an offense that revolutionized football. Only Sammy Baugh, playing for the Washington Redskins had the passing skills to match Luckman. Eventually, Luckman tutored college coaches across the Big Ten, Notre Dame and West Point in the intricacies of the passing game.

[edit] The T-formation

In only his second season with the Bears, Luckman took over the offense and led the Bears to the title game against Sammy Baugh and the Redskins. The Redskins had beaten the Bears 7-3 during the regular season. Using the "man-in-motion" innovation to great advantage, the Bears destroyed the Redskins 73-0. Luckman passed only 6 times, with 4 completions and 102 yards in the rout. This win was the beginning of over 6 years of Bear dominance of the NFL. From 1940-1946 the Bears played in 5 NFL championship games, winning 4, and posted a 54-17-3 regular season record. In 1942, the Bears posted a perfect 11-0 record and outscored their opponents 376-84 (they lost the championship game to Baugh and Redskins). Luckman was central to the Chicago success. Perfecting Halas' complex offensive scheme of fakes, men in motion, and quick hitting runs, Luckman added the dimension of accurate downfield throwing. During his career, Luckman completed 52% of his passes, averaging 8.4 yards per attempt. In 1943, his finest season, he completed 110 of 202 for 2194 yards and 28 touchdowns. During one game that year, Luckman threw for 443 yards and 7 touchdowns, still tied for the most passing TDs in one game. He led the "Monsters of the Midway" to championships in 1940, 1941, 1943, and 1946. Luckman also had 132 interceptions in his career.

[edit] Career stats

Passing Stats
Year	Team	G	Passing Att.-Comp.	Yards	Pct.	TD	Int.	Pass Rating
1939	Chicago	11	51-23	636	.451	5	4	91.6
1940	Chicago	11	105-48	941	.457	4	9	54.5
1941	Chicago	11	119-68	1,181	.571	9	6	95.3
1942	Chicago	11	105-57	1,023	.543	10	13	80.1
1943	Chicago	10	202-110	2,194	.545	28	12	107.5
1944	Chicago	7	143-71	1,018	.497	11	12	63.8
1945	Chicago	10	217-117	1,727	.539	14	10	82.5
1946	Chicago	11	229-110	1,826	.480	17	16	71.0
1947	Chicago	12	323-176	2,712	.545	24	31	67.7
1948	Chicago	12	163-89	1,047	.546	13	14	65.1
1949	Chicago	11	50-22	200	.440	1	3	37.1
1950	Chicago	11	37-13	180	.351	1	2	38.1
Totals		128	1,744-904	14,685	.518	137	132	75.0

[edit] References

Columbia University: C250 Celebrates Sid Luckman

[edit] External links

Pro Football Hall of Fame: Member profile

Preceded by Bernard Masterson	Chicago Bears Starting Quarterbacks 1940-1948	Succeeded by Johnny Lujack
Preceded by Don Hutson	NFL Most Valuable Player 1943 season	Succeeded by Frank Sinkwich

Chicago Bears Starting Quarterbacks
Dressen • Conzelman • Driscoll • Molesworth • Masterson • Luckman • Lujack • Blanda • Brown • Bratkowski • Wade • Bukich • Concannon • Douglass • Huff • Avellini• Phipps • Evans • McMahon • Tomczak • Harbaugh • Walsh • Kramer • Krieg • Matthews • McNown • Miller • Chandler • Stewart • Hutchinson • Krenzel • Orton • Grossman

National Football League | NFL's 1940s All-Decade Team

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Sid Luckman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

[edit] Chicago Bears

[edit] The Draft

[edit] The T-formation

[edit] Career stats

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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