LAKE FOREST, Ill. (WGNTV) — Virginia Halas McCaskey, the longtime owner and matriarch of the Chicago Bears, died Thursday at 102, the team announced in a news release.
McCaskey had been the owner of the Bears since her father and team founder George S. Halas died on Oct. 31, 1983. Her son, George, has been chairman of the Bears since 2011 when he took over that role from brother Michael.
McCaskey’s husband, Edward W. McCaskey, died in 2003.
“While we are sad, we are comforted knowing Virginia Halas McCaskey lived a long, full, faith-filled life and is now with the love of her life on earth,” the Halas family said in a statement. “She guided the Bears for four decades and based every business decision on what was best for Bears players, coaches, staff and fans.”
The Bears statement reads, in part: “Over the last 41-plus years, Mrs. McCaskey continued the steadfast mission set forth by her father to uphold the values of the City of Chicago, its people and its fans.
“Mrs. McCaskey understood, not only her father’s love and appreciation of football and the team which he played for, coached and owned, but also the love of the Chicago Bears by its fans. She always kept in mind what the Bears meant to the City of Chicago and what the city meant to the Bears.
“She had a passion for the team that matched her father’s, celebrating every win with grace while quietly suffering every loss. She made it a point to attend every game she could, both home and away, and was alive for eight of the Bears nine World Championships. As owner of the team, Mrs. McCaskey oversaw the franchise’s ninth World Championship and first Super Bowl title in 1985.”
Jarrett Payton of GN Sports, son of Bears legend and Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, shared some thoughts on Virginia McCaskey from Super Bowl week in New Orleans following the announcement of her passing.
Jarrett said everyone referred to her as “Mama Bear” and remembered how much her support and kindness meant to him and his family when Walter died in 1999.
“She lived a life of love, a life of greatness, of giving back in service,” Jarrett Payton said. “The way she treated people is always how she’ll be remembered in my heart. … Even though it’s sad, we celebrate her life. … She was the rock.”
More from Jarrett Payton on Virginia Halas McCaskey’s passing below:
Born in Chicago
Virginia McCaskey was born in Chicago to Min and George Halas in 1923, the oldest of two children, along with younger brother George S. “Mugs” Halas Jr.
She attended Chicago Public Schools until eighth grade when she transferred to the parish school at St. Hilary in Chicago. She then attended St. Scholastica Academy in Chicago for high school before going on to study at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
College is where she met her future husband, Edward W. McCaskey. The two married on Feb. 2, 1943, at St. Margaret Mary’s Church in Bel Air, Md., before Edward went into military service in World War II following his ROTC training.
Virginia lived with Edward’s mother and her family in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the first three of their 11 children were born. The couple returned to Illinois in 1949 and lived quietly in Des Plaines.
In 1967, Edward started working with the Bears at the request of George Halas.
Virginia focused on raising the couple’s children, but events over the course of the next four years changed plans. Her brother, “Mugs” Halas, died suddenly in 1979, followed by the passing of George Halas in 1983.
Taking over the Bears
After her father died, Virginia became the principal owner of the Bears franchise.
Reads the Bears’ statement: “She never sought the spotlight. She understood the importance of emphasizing to family members how important the legacy of the franchise was, not in terms of money or value, but in terms of what the team meant to people in Chicago and beyond.
“Mrs. McCaskey recognized difficult and unpopular decisions sometimes had to be made but trusted that conviction would guide all those involved through difficult times. She watched first-hand as the league started from a struggling sports business to America’s most popular sport, valuing her family’s friendships with other team owners including the Mara family, the Rooney family, the Bidwill family and the Brown family.”
On the field, the pinnacle of Virginia’s ownership came just two years after she took over.
The 1985 Bears, regarded as one of the greatest teams in NFL history, rolled to a 15-1 record during the regular season and two shutout wins at Soldier Field in the playoffs, including a 21-0 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Jan. 12, 1986, that sent the Bears to their first Super Bowl.
In Super Bowl XX, like this year’s Super Bowl played at the Superdome in New Orleans, the Bears trounced the New England Patriots, 46-10, to capture the lone Vince Lombardi Trophy in franchise annals to date.
The Bears reached the Super Bowl once more under Virginia’s ownership, following the 2006 season, but they lost Super Bowl XLI to the Indianapolis Colts in Miami.
Faith and community
As the Bears release states, faith was “at the core of everything” Virginia did: “A devout Catholic, she always reflected on what God would want her to do in daily life. She focused on trying to help encourage people to be better to one another and once stated she was always working on her faith through good times and bad.
“She was known to cherish Christmas and Thanksgiving family gatherings and provided family and many friends with Nativity sets as a symbol of their faith and the true meaning of the holidays.”
Virginia was also passionate about bettering the Chicagoland community, as seen through the establishment of the Bears Care program in 2005.
Since then, Bears Care has issued grants totaling more than $31.5 million to 225 qualifying agencies to help improve the quality of life for people in the Chicagoland community, especially disadvantaged children and their families, through targeted programs supporting education, youth athletics and medical research, and health awareness programs focusing on breast and ovarian cancer.
Virginia also supported numerous other community causes.
Virginia had 11 children, eight sons and three daughters. She is survived by sons Patrick (Gretchen), Edward Jr. (Kathy), George (Barbara), Richard, Brian (Barbara) and Joseph, and daughters Ellen (Barney) Tonquest, Mary and Anne (Mike) Catron.
Her husband, Edward, died in 2003. Their son, Timothy, died in 2011 and son, Michael, died in 2020.
Virginia is also survived by 21 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.
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