Virginia McCaskey, who inherited the Chicago Bears from her father, George Halas, but avoided the spotlight during four-plus decades as principal owner, has died. She was 102.
McCaskey’s family announced through the team that she died Thursday. She had owned the Bears since her father’s death on Oct. 31, 1983.
“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 family said. “She guided the Bears for four decades and based every business decision on what was best for Bears players, coaches, staff and fans.”
Like her father, a co-founder of the NFL, McCaskey kept the team in family hands. She gave operational control and the title of president to her eldest son, Michael McCaskey, who served as chairman until being succeeded by brother George McCaskey in 2011.
During her stewardship, the Bears won a Super Bowl in 1986 and lost a second 21 years later.
“Virginia Halas McCaskey, the matriarch of the Chicago Bears and daughter of George Halas, the founder of the NFL, leaves a legacy of class, dignity, and humanity,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “Faith, family, and football — in that order — were her north stars and she lived by the simple adage to always ‘do the right thing.’ The Bears that her father started meant the world to her, and he would be proud of the way she continued the family business with such dedication and passion. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the McCaskey and Halas families and Bears fans around the world.”
Four of McCaskey’s sons remain with the Bears’ board of directors: George, Patrick, Brian and Ed. A recent valuation by Forbes.com pegged the team’s worth at $6.4 billion.
McCaskey, the older of Halas’ two children, never expected to find herself in charge. Her brother, George “Mugs” Halas Jr., was being groomed to take over the team, but died suddenly of a heart attack in 1979.
McCaskey assumed ownership upon her father’s death in 1983, and her late husband, Ed McCaskey, succeeded Halas as chairman. Not long after, she turned over control to Michael, the eldest of her 11 children.
“I think it’s important that all of our family remembers that we really haven’t done anything to earn this,” McCaskey said in a rare interview in 2006. “We’re just the recipients of a tremendous legacy. I use the word ‘custodian,’ and we want to pass it on the best way we can. … We’ve been working on that for a long time.”
McCaskey’s official title was secretary to the board of directors. Despite her generally hands-off approach and low public profile, she occasionally exercised ultimate authority on team decisions as matriarch of the family.
One of those involved a 1987 lawsuit brought by the children of “Mugs” Halas, which was resolved by a stock buyout of their shares. A more recent reminder came in December 2014, when George McCaskey announced the firings of coach Marc Trestman and general manager Phil Emery at a news conference, and was asked to describe his mother’s role in the process.
He paused, struggling to describe her unhappiness with the just-ended 5-11 season, and the team’s generally fading fortunes.
“She’s pissed off,” George McCaskey said. “I can’t think of a 91-year-old woman that that description would apply, but in this case, I can’t think of a more accurate description.
“Virginia McCaskey has been on this earth for eight of the Bears’ nine championships, and she wants more,″ he added a moment later. “She feels that it’s been too long since the last (Super Bowl win), and that dissatisfaction is shared by her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. She’s fed up with mediocrity. She feels that she and Bears fans everywhere deserve better.”
Virginia McCaskey came by her fandom honestly. According to family members, she often wouldn’t serve dessert on Sundays when the Bears lost. In that same 2006 interview, she recalled attending the first playoff game in league history, when she was 9.
The Bears and Portsmouth Spartans finished the 1932 season in the first tie for first place, so the league added a game to determine a champion. Because of snow, the game was moved indoors to the old Chicago Stadium, the Bears won 9-0 playing on an 80-yard field that came right to the walls.
“I remember I didn’t save my ticket stub, but one of my cousins had saved his,” McCaskey said. “We sat in the second balcony and the ticket price was $1.25.
“I took it to one of the Super Bowls to show (former Commissioner) Pete Rozelle and then I don’t know what happened to it afterward,” she added. “But that’s OK.”
Her tenure as the Bears’ owner included the establishment of the Bears Care program in 2005. The Bears said that Bears Care has issued grants totaling more than $31.5 million to 225 qualifying agencies to improve the quality of life for people in the Chicago area, especially disadvantaged children and their families. Bears Care also supported health awareness programs focusing on breast and ovarian cancer.
McCaskey had 11 children, eight sons and three daughters. She is survived by her sons Patrick (Gretchen), Edward Jr. (Kathy), George (Barbara), Richard, Brian (Barbara) and Joseph, and daughters Ellen (Barney) Tonquest, Mary and Anne (Mike) Catron. She is also survived by 21 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.