Worth a Thousand Words: Bronko Nagurski and Beattie Feathers

  

     Bronko Nagurski was born in the picturesquely named town of Rainy River, Ontario, and grew up in International Falls, Minnesota. From the time he was very young, he was regarded as a sort of real-life Paul Bunyan.

     Clarence “Doc” Spears, his coach at the University of Minnesota, had a colorful account of how he recruited Nagurski. “I saw this young kid pushing a plow,” Spears said. “There was no horse or anything else, just this kid pushing a plow. I asked directions of him, and he picked up the plow and pointed with it. I decided then and there he should go to Minnesota.” 

     Bronko went on to perform spectacularly at Minnesota, and he joined the Bears in 1930. He weighed about 235 pounds at a time when very few players exceeded 210. A fullback on offense and a tackle and linebacker on defense, Nagurski was the heart and soul of the Bears’ powerhouse teams of the thirties, and he later came out of retirement to lead the Bears to the NFL championship in 1943. 

    

BRONKO NAGURSKI and BEATTIE FEATHERS

 

In 1934, running behind his lead blocker Nagurski, rookie halfback Beattie Feathers became the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Feathers averaged an unbelievable 8.4 yards per carry (Nagurski himself registered an impressive 4.8) as the Bears went 13-0 for the regular season before the New York Giants denied them a third straight world championship in the title game.

     Nagurski was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 1963. His plaque calls him “a bulldozing runner on offense and a bone-crushing linebacker on defense.” 

     Has there ever been a more intimidating, bad-ass Bear than Nagurski? It’s hard to say,  because very few people who saw him play are still around to tell about it--and because Dick Butkus also played for the Bears. At the very least, Nagurski certainly fits right in with the likes of Butkus, Doug Atkins, Richard Dent, Dan Hampton, Olin Kreutz, Khalil Mack, Steve McMichael, Ed O’Bradovich, Doug Plank, Brian Urlacher, and anyone else who comes to mind.

     A quote from Green Bay Packers fullback and linebacker Clarke Hinkle, whose career overlapped almost exactly with Nagurski’s, will shed some light on how Bronko was viewed by his contemporaries. “Nagurski was probably the greatest player I ever went up against,” said Hinkle, himself a Hall of Famer. “I thought to myself, ‘You either better start moving and go after him or just get the hell out of the way, because otherwise you are going to get killed.’”

 

 

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