CHICAGO BEARS LOGO: History, Uniforms and Mascots

Chicago Bears Logo old history
Image Source: Clipart Library

The Chicago Bears are a professional football team in the United States. Soldier Field is where they play their home games. The team is now led by head coach Matt Eberflus. This article talks about the history of the old Chicago Bears logo.

History of Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are an NFL team that plays in the NFC North. They are based in Illinois. In 1919, the A. E. Staley Food Starch Manufacturing Company in Decatur, Illinois, put together its own football team. George Chamberlain, who was in charge of the whole company, had high hopes for his team. He wanted them to be able to compete with the best semi-professional teams. He asked George Halas and Edward Sternaman to help him run the company.

In 1920, both of these famous coaches put the Decatur Staleys through training. In 1921, the government finally had full power. They were able to buy a franchise from A. E. Staley in Decatur for $5,000 and then move it to Chicago. According to the contract, the original name must be used for the next season.

In 1922, the Staleys, a baseball team from Chicago, changed their name. Back then, both the Chicago Bears football team and the Chicago Cubs baseball team played at Wrigley Field (a cub is a baby bear). The owners wanted to keep the team’s “bearish” image, so they changed the name of the team to the Chicago Bears. George Halas took the blue and orange of the University of Illinois and made them darker.

After the team won the championship in 1932, Edward Sternaman sold his shares because the team was having trouble making money. George Halas was the only person who had any say in how the franchise was run after he bought it in 1972. He died in 1983. After he died, the Bears were run by his oldest daughter, Virginia McCaskey. At the moment, Patrick Ryan, the executive chairman of Aon Corp., and Andrew McKenna, a director of Aon Corp., control 19.7 percent of the club, while the McCaskey family owns 80.1 percent.

The Chicago Bears are an American rugby team. They were started in Illinois in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys. The next year, they changed their name to the Chicago Staleys. The team plays in the NFL and has won more games than any other team in the history of the league.

The visual identity of the Chicago football team has gone through three different stages. First, there were Staleys, the Chicago Bear logo, and the famous “C” that was designed in 1962 and has been a part of the team’s identity ever since. It can be seen anywhere in the world and is instantly recognizable.

Chicago Bears Logo (1920 — 1921)

The first name of the team was the Decatur Staleys, so the first logo was a nameplate with the name of the team. For the first season, the team used a Chicago Bears logo that was based on A.E. Staley’s corporate identity.

A circle that is split in half across the middle. The upper part had a big blue “S” with a thin white outline. The name of the club was written in the bottom part in two different fonts: a modern serif for “Staleys” and a delicate, easy-to-read cursive for “Decatur,” which was put underneath. The bottom part of the logo was made up of white letters with a thin orange frame. 

Chicago Bears Logo (1921 — 1940)

The Staleys changed their name and logo to the Chicago Staleys after relocating to Chicago from Decatur in 1921. The 1921 version was a brown rugby ball with “Staleys” written on it in red and blue. The letters were exactly the same in terms of how they were written and how they looked. The only difference was that they were longer and had more white space around them.

The calm and simple brown and white colors of the ball stood in contrast to the fiery red lettering inside a blue outline, which showed how passionate and determined the team was.

Chicago Bears Logo (1940 — 1945)

Since 1940, when the first logo for the Chicago Bears was made, the Bear has been a part of the team’s brand. A black and brown bear with an orange rugby ball is shown jogging. It was a strong and lasting symbol that showed who the club was and gave a sense of strength and confidence.

Chicago Bears Logo (1945 — 1973)

From 1945 until the early 1970s, the first version of the logo was a black bear sitting on top of a bright orange rugby ball. The football looked very dangerous with the creepy-crawly on it. It was a picture of how brave, strong, and determined the team was to win.

The black-and-orange-with-white-accents color scheme stood for vitality, energy, professionalism, and duty.

Chicago Bears Logo (1962 — 1973)

Chicago’s current logo came out in 1982, but it has roots in 1962, when “The wishbone C,” a sleek stylized letter “C” for the team, was made. The emblem was easy to recognize because of the small, sharp point that stuck out of its left side. When we looked more closely, we saw that its design was a lot like that of another sports team, the Cincinnati Reds. The thin black outline of the white “C” made it stand out against any color background.

Chicago Bears Logo (1974 — Today)

The current logo is a direct descendant of the one that came before it. It was made in 1974. The only change is that orange, white, and black have been added to the color scheme. The “C” itself is now orange, and the double outline is white on the inside and black on the outside. The overall shape of the letter was changed to make it look more polished and up-to-date.

The brand colors of the Chicago Bears give off a sense of stability and seriousness as well as positive, active, and energizing feelings. In 1993, a new logo was made that had a white and blue bear’s head on top of a yellow wishbone “C.” The bear’s head is still a big part of the club’s brand, even though the emblem is no longer used. The only difference is that the logo has been put in place of the “A” in “Bears.” It is now orange and deep blue and is usually placed inside the wordmark.

Even though the orange and blue bear on top of the letter “C” from 1993 is still used, the two emblems are usually used separately.

Chicago Bears Logo (1993)

In the 1990s, the Chicago Bears tried out a few different logos. One idea that was never used was a blue and white bear’s head that was roaring. It was placed on top of a big, bright orange “C” with a blue border.

Chicago Bears Logo Symbol

A wishbone is just a bone. This sign is part of the Chicago Bears’ logo because it shows how much the team loves the game. Any effort will lead to good luck and good results.

Emblem

The wishbone “C” used to be on the Chicago Bears’ helmets before it became the official symbol of the team.

Chicago Bears Logo Shape

In 2018, the Chicago Bears logo, a wishbone, is still the same as when it was first used in 1962. It used to be white, but now it’s orange with white accents and a black border.

Chicago Bears Logo Colors

The orange in the “C” wishbone stands for life, hope, and joy. The white stands for purity and grace, and the black stands for strength and determination.

Chicago Bears Logo Font

Bears is written in the typeface that is used by the club. The logo for the club is a single letter “C” with a sharp left angle coming out of it. The triangular part in the middle of the long part makes it look like a thymus, an organ whose discovery is celebrated during the Thanksgiving holiday. Whether or not the Chicago Bears believe in superstitions, this way of looking at the logo brings them luck.

The club’s brand is a play on the name of the city. The whole thing only has one letter. The typeface is clearly wrong because the letter “C” is drawn instead of written. By making the top left corner into a sharp point, the artists gave it a unique look. The horizontal lengthening of the letter and this design make me think of a bird’s thymus bone.

The Decatur Staleys were started in 1919 in Decatur, Illinois. They were named after the company that sponsored them, the A. E. Staley Company. The logo of the company is used by the A. E. Staley football team. Since the 1960s, when the Chicago Bears first joined the National Football League, the wishbone “C” has been the team’s symbol (NFL). 

Since 1920, when the team was first formed, the Bears have worn almost the same uniforms, with just a few small changes and new patches here and there. The team’s uniforms are thought to be some of the best in the league because of how they look. Throughout the history of the team, Nike, Reebok, and Champion have all made Bears uniforms.

The first logo came out in 1920. Because the team was named after the company that owned it, A. E. Staley Company, the Decatur Staleys wore the company’s logo. The main goal of the marketing plan was to make more people aware of the food starch production industry.

The logo was a circle that had been cut in half across the middle. The sphere has a double border. The letter “S” was written in blue script on top of a deep orange background. The words “Staleys Decatur” in white stood out against the blue of the bottom half of the half-circle. All of the letters in the “Staleys” wordmark were written in capital letters. The “Decatur” wordmark was made to look like handwriting, so only the capital “D” was capitalized and the rest of the letters were lowercase.

There have only been a few logos that have been used by clubs. When the team was still called the Decatur Staleys in 1920, A. E. Staley’s logo was on the uniforms in a big way. The first official Chicago Bears logo came out in 1940. It was a black bear running while carrying a football. The new logo was made in 1946, when a navy bear was put on a football.

Since 1962, the Bears have used a “C” made of a wishbone. The original emblem was white with a black outline. It looks a lot like the “C” worn by the Cincinnati Reds for many years. It also looks a lot like the “C” worn by the University of Chicago Maroons since the team was founded in 1898. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, professional football teams started putting their logos on their helmets. 

This meant that the Bears had to change their logo. Other NFL teams have changed their logos many times over the years, but the Bears have kept the same wishbone “C” for almost 50 years. In 1973, they made a small change by making the base orange and adding white and navy blue trim. Since then, the logo has changed a few times. In 1980, it was a navy blue bear head, and in 1999, it was an orange bear head.

Chicago Bears Uniform

Their clothes look like this:

Helmets

From the 1940s to the late 1960s, Chicago-based Wilson Sporting Goods gave the Bears their helmets and face masks, making them stand out from the rest of the NFL. Most of the helmets worn by NFL players come from the Riddell company, which is also based in the Chicago area. 

Fans of football will remember Gale Sayers’ white face mask with vertical bars at an angle and his Wilson helmet with wide ears from the mid-1960s. In 1982, the team switched from its usual gray facemasks to dark blue ones. For the 2019 game against the New York Giants, the Bears wore their traditional gray facemasks with a white “C” on them.

In 1994, when the NFL turned 75, the Bears wore blue helmets without their logo to celebrate. With the Monsters of the Midway throwback uniforms, the Bears would wear a helmet that looked a lot like the 1994 helmet, but the facemask would be gray instead of white.

Jerseys

In 1920, red jerseys with brown stripes were chosen as the official team uniform by the Staley family. In the 1920s, the standard football was slightly bigger, rounder, and harder to handle than modern footballs. To help players get a better grip on the ball, they had strips made of strips of canvas sewn into their jerseys. 

The players’ numbers were only on the backs of their jerseys. The Bears started wearing blue uniforms in 1923, the year after the team moved to Chicago and changed its name to the Bears. Navy blue and orange were chosen because George Halas went to college at the University of Illinois, where those are the school colors.

In the 1930s, there were a lot of changes to the team’s clothes. In 1932, a white jersey with orange and blue stripes was introduced. The Bears finally decided on a uniform in 1933: an orange jersey with blue numbers and a helmet that matched. During the 2000s, when the Bears played the New York Giants, fans who wore all orange were booed. In 1935, the Bears’ first uniform was an orange shirt with black stripes on the arms. 

In 1936, they made a few changes to the design to make “an early version of psychedelia.” They added three orange stripes to their helmets, switched from orange to white jerseys, added fourteen alternating stripes of navy and orange to the sleeves of the new white jerseys, and started wearing striped socks that went from the ankle to the knee. The design was only used for one season before it was thrown out because fans and the press didn’t like it. In 1949, the team started wearing its now-iconic uniform: navy blue jerseys with white, spherical numbers.

More About Chicago Bears Uniform

In 1956, when TV became popular, the squad started putting “TV numbers” on their sleeves. In 1957, the NFL said that home teams had to wear dark, primary-colored jerseys, and road teams had to wear white. The Bears wore a white jersey with blue numbers and orange trim, and their sleeves were striped blue at the top and bottom and orange in the middle. 

In 1960, the team’s home jerseys had orange trim around the white numbers, which had shrunk a lot, and the orange stripes on the blue socks had white borders. In 1961, white lines were added to the orange stripes on the sleeves. At the turn of the century, the Bears began putting players’ names on the back of their jerseys. After Halas died too soon in 1983, his initials, “GSH,” were added to the left sleeve of the jerseys for the 1984 season.

The team was known for being the only NFL team that didn’t use the standard block format for jersey numbers for many years. A few teams in the early 1960s, like the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Houston Oilers, when they were still in the AFL, tried out round jersey numbers. However, the Bears were the only NFL team to keep wearing them. 

In 1971 and 1972, the Bears did wear jerseys with plain block numbers a few times. Since the mid-1990s, however, many teams have stopped using block numbers in favor of numbers that match the font of the team (like the Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, etc.) or, in the case of the Pittsburgh Steelers, numbers that match the font of the helmet numbers while the jersey design stays the same.

Chicago Bears Uniform In 2002

In 2002, the Bears changed the color of their blue to “make all teams look the same.”

When Nike became the Bears’ official uniform provider in 2012, the numbers on the sleeves were moved to the shoulder pads and the “GSH” was made bigger.

Chicago Bears Pants

Usually, the Bears wear blue pants with white and orange stripes or white pants with blue and orange stripes. The team usually pairs their away jerseys with blue pants and their home jerseys with white pants. In 1984, pants in navy blue were added to the away uniform. In the 1930s, the Bears played a few games in orange jerseys and pants. Stripes began to show up on the legs of pants in 1940.

At away games, white socks with blue and orange stripes are worn. At home, white socks with blue and orange stripes are worn. 1940 was the first time you saw those stripes. Before 1974, the Bears wore black shoes during the seasons of 1990–1992, and 2000. In 2014, they mostly wore white shoes, though some players were also seen in black, navy, and orange. Even though the team has never worn orange pants with their away jerseys, Madden NFL 13 has them do it.

About the Founder and the Team

The club was started as a sports team for employees of the A. E. Staley Food Starch Company in Decatur, Illinois. At the time, the team was called the Decatur Staleys. This is how many of the NFL’s first teams got started. In 1919, the team went up against other teams without any outside help and won the Central Illinois Championship. In 1920, George Halas and Edward “Dutch” Sternaman were hired by the business to run the team. The Decatur Staleys played for the first time in the American Professional Football Association in 1920, which became the NFL (National Football League).

Halas and Sternaman were given full power over the team. In official team and league records, Halas is listed as the team’s founder. He owned the team when it joined the NFL in 1920. After moving to Chicago in 1921, the club became known as the Chicago Staleys. For $100, Halas and Sternaman were able to buy the club’s legal rights from Staley after they talked with him.

When Halas took charge of the team in 1922, he changed their name from the Staleys to the Bears. The Chicago Cubs baseball team now lives at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. As was the case with a number of early NFL teams, the Bears got their name from the city’s baseball team (some directly, some indirectly – like the Bears, whose young are called “cubs”). 

More About About the Founder and the Team

In the early years of the league, the Staleys/Bears could not be stopped. Their rivalry with the Chicago Cardinals, who were the NFL’s first team from 1920 to 1959, was a big part of four of the league’s first six championships. During the first six years, the league was around, the Bears were the only team to lose to every other team in the league more than once. During that time, they lost twice to the Canton Bulldogs, who won two league titles and split with the Cardinals, who played in the same league (4-4-2). The Bears went 34 games without scoring a point.

The Bears’ rivalry with the Green Bay Packers goes all the way back to 1921. It is one of the oldest and most historic professional sports in the United States. (Until 1921, when they joined the NFL, the Green Bay Packers were a separate team). Halas kicked the Packers out of the league because he didn’t want them to sign a certain player. Once the player was signed by the Bears, Halas was kind enough to let the Packers back in. Under Halas, the team was successful right away. In 1921, they won the NFL championship, and they kept doing well throughout the 1920s.

In 1924

The 1924 Bears were proud to put the words “World’s Champions” on their team picture after beating the Cleveland Bulldogs on December 7. If games played after November 30 were counted, the Bears would have won their division. However, the NFL didn’t let them, so they had to settle for second place behind Cleveland. They didn’t have a season where they lost until 1929. The team started the long-standing rule in the National Football League that a player can’t be signed before his senior year of college is over. This rule has been in place since the 1920s.

Red Grange was a star player at the University of Illinois. The Bears signed him one day before his last college game, which caused the NFL to punish them. Even though they won a lot of games on the field, the Bears had a lot of problems. They had to deal with costs going up and income staying the same.

Even though the average number of people at a Bears game is less than 6,000, a University of Chicago game can draw as many as 40,000 people. When the Bears signed college football star Red Grange, they thought they had found a way to sell more tickets. Grange signed a contract with C.C. Pyle that paid him $2,000 per game. In the Bears’ first game, they beat the Green Bay Packers 21-0.

In 1925

Grange, on the other hand, stayed on the bench while he and Bears quarterback Joey Sternaman looked over playbooks. In the fall of 1925, the Bears would go on a barnstorming tour to show off the best football players of the time. Seventy-five thousand people paid money to see Grange and the Bears beat the Los Angeles Tigers, a team of college stars from the West Coast, 17-7. The Bears got back on track after losing to San Francisco with a big 60–3 win over the semi-pro Portland All-Stars.

The Bears’ hopes that Grange would lead them to the championship in 1926 were quickly dashed. After contract talks broke down, Grange quit and joined the New York Yankees of the American Football League, which are owned by Pyle. The team’s best quarterback, Joey Sternaman, left to play for the Chicago Bulls in the AFL, and the team was never the same after that. 

In place of Grange, the Bears traded for Paddy Driscoll, who is a great football player in his own right. Because of the money, they got from the Grange barn-storming tour, the Bears re-signed their starting quarterback. Grange worked in both movies and football at the same time. But the country wasn’t ready for two professional football leagues, so the AFL folded after just one season. Grange would come back to the Bears.

Find Out More

After the terrible 1932 championship season, Halas’s business partner, Dutch Sternaman, left the company. Halas was in charge of the Bears until 1983, the year he died. He coached the team on and off for a record-setting 40 NFL seasons, which he also set. In 1932, the “Unofficial” NFL Championship was played at Chicago Stadium between the Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans. 

It was the first American football game ever played indoors. Because the playoff system is so popular, the NFL now has a championship game. The first NFL Championship game was between the Bears and the New York Giants. The Bears beat the Giants, 23-21. The teams met again in the 1934 NFL Championship Game, but this time it was at the cold Polo Grounds. This time, the Giants, who were wearing shoes, won 30-13.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, when professional football teams started putting logos on their helmets, the team gave up the black bear as its mascot and chose the silver eagle instead. Other NFL teams have changed their uniforms many times over the years, but the Bears have kept the same wishbone “C” for almost 40 years.

When Did the Chicago Bears Put Stripes on Their Helmets?

The zigzag pattern first showed up around 1940. The last time the Bears wore black shoes was from 1990 to 1992. Before that, they wore them from 1974 to 1990.

Before they changed their name to the Decatur Staleys, they were known as the A. Putting a football on the E. Staley logo helped promote the company. In 1940, the team’s first logo was a black bear running with a football in its mouth.

Why Are the Bears Donning White Uniforms as a Home Team?

The Bears will wear their classic navy jerseys with white leggings at home on November 5. In Week 3, when the Bears host the Texans, they will wear the famous white jerseys that were made for the team’s 100th anniversary a few years ago. They’ll wear the orange alternate uniform and helmet in Week 6 (against the Commanders) and Week 8 (against the Chiefs) (Cowboys).

Are the Bears Leaving Chicago?

Most likely, the Bears will buy a house in Arlington Heights, which is a suburb northwest of Chicago. The group said Tuesday that it has signed a contract to buy the land in 2021. However, the deal is still subject to “conditions that must be met.” The Bears want to leave Soldier Field and build a new stadium in Arlington Park, a suburb north of Chicago.

Did Chicago Bears Change Their Helmets?

The Bears are making a big change to their helmets by making them all orange for the first time since the famous “C” was added to the side in 1962. In 2019, teams will wear throwback uniforms and helmets from the past to celebrate 100 years of the NFL.

Do the Bears Have a Mascot?

Staley, the mascot for the Chicago Bears, is a big hit at Soldier Field. When he’s not playing football, Staley performs at about 300 events a year.

Why Did the Chicago Bears Change Their Logo?

Because professional football clubs began placing emblems on players’ helmets in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the team decided to replace their previous emblem, which featured a black bear, with a new one. The wishbone ‘C’ logo has been used by the Bears for almost 40 years, in contrast to the numerous distinct variations worn by other NFL organizations over the course of the league’s history.

The Grizzly Bear is the species of bear that represents the Chicago Bears. Staley Da Bear, who serves as the official team mascot, has stated on social media that “Grizzly Adams” is his favorite television show. He also looks like a grizzly bear.

Why Did the Chicago Bears Get Rid of the Honey Bears?

Reporting from the time period that was published in the Chicago Tribune suggests that the cheerleaders were informed that their contract with the team would not be renewed following the conclusion of the 1985 campaign. According to the report, the choice was not solely based on financial considerations. General Manager Jerry Vainisi posed the question at the time of whether or not cheerleaders were still relevant.

What Does the Black Bears Logo Mean?

The University of Maine’s varsity athletic program competes under the moniker “Black Bears,” which is also the name of the squad. Regarding the company’s emblem, it consists of a graphical component that depicts the hostile head of a bear and the word “Maine” written in a strong, blue font. As can be seen, this logo does not contain any sort of secret message; rather, it is merely a representation of the club’s name and its history.

What Kind of Bear Is the Chicago Bears Logo?

The Chicago Bears professional rugby team has a distinctive emblem that consists of a stylized capital letter “C” in the shape of a wishbone. Although the logo appears to be an independent symbol, it actually represents the initial letter of the “Chicago” portion of the club’s name. Despite this, the older version of the badge featured a grizzly bear, which is the species of bear that is most commonly thought of as being the most deadly.

Why Is the Chicago Bears Logo AC?

The “C” rather than the “AC” is what the Chicago Bears use as their official logo. The word “Chicago” is represented by a stylized extended orange letter with bold lines and a delicate pointy element in the center of the arch. This element represents the city of Chicago, where the club was founded and is still based.

How Many Super Bowls Have the Bears Won?

The Chicago Bears are not the most decorated team in the National Football League and have only taken home the championship trophy once, in 1985. Despite this, the team does not give up and does not lose the will to achieve their previous levels of accomplishment.

Conclusion

The Chicago Bears have won more games than any other NFL team and have won more league titles than any other team at every level. However, in 1985, they won the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the Super Bowl. Between its start in 1920 and its end in 1922, the company went through many name changes. It began as Decatur Staleys and ended as Chicago Staleys.

References 

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