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Sidney Luckman (November 21, 1916 - July 5, 1998) was an American quarterback for the Chicago Bears American Football franchise of the National Football League from 1939 to 1950. During his time with the team he led them to four Championships. more...

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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 Luckman's years at Columbia, "You had to be there to realize how great Sid was."

Biography

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.

Chicago Bears

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. In the then-predominant single-wing formation, the quarterback was primarily a blocking back and rarely touched the ball. Most passing was done by the tailback, and then usually only on third down with long yardage to go. Halas and his coaches (primarily Clark Shaughnessy) 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 as a single-wing tailback at Columbia University, Halas believed Luckman had the ability to become an effective T-formation quarterback, and 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, and became the basis of most modern professional offenses. 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.

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.

Read more at Wikipedia.org