This injury would keep him out of major league baseball. He tried out and was contracted by the New York Yankees but was injured in an exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Halas then went on to try his luck at baseball.
This team played and won the JanuRose bowl game against the Mare Island Marines. Halas had played end on the University of Illinois football team and had then gone on to play with the Great Lakes Navy team during WWI. Staley then turned his sights to George Halas, known for his prowess in both baseball and football. First he contacted Dutch Sternaman, the man responsible for putting together the Arcola team, but Dutch was close to finishing his Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Illinois and was not ready to make a commitment to an on-going sports program. The competitive entrepreneur in Staley asserted itself and Staley decided to grow his own semi-professional team. Staley, having gotten wind of these dealings, would not send his team in for a dose of humiliation. Dutch did build a team but when the day of the game came round, the Decatur Staleys were a no-show. Arcola contacted Dutch Sternaman, University of Illinois’s top running back and asked him to find players among the university sector to build a more competitive team. The resounding defeat caused the businessmen of Arcola to rally and create a more competitive team before their next play date with the Staleys. In that first game against Arcola the Staleys won 41-0. employees who had shown interest in the sports program. The Staley team at that time was made up of regular Staley Mfg.
#Sports teams chicago 1930 professional
The unfolding of the Staley football club and its development from a purely industrial team to a semi-professional and then a fully professional team begins oddly enough with a game that was played in 1919 against an area team called the Arcola Independents. What better way to promote the Staley name than by an organized traveling sports team? It is probably safe to say that all of these factors came into play in motivating Staley to begin a company supported athletic program. He wanted to see the Staley name and product line succeed. Staley was an entrepreneur with big dreams.
But maybe more than any other reason is the fact that A.E. Staley also might have regarded this as good, healthy entertainment for his employees who otherwise spent their days working in a town focused basically on industry. Staley surely must have thought that employees participating in sports either actively or as spectators would grow to value the lessons learned of being a team player, good sportsmanship, character building as well as building a sense of team/factory loyalty.
Another possible reason for embarking on an athletic program is the inherent lessons to be learned regarding sportsmanship. First he offers that Staley, having come from humble beginnings and having had very little formal schooling, missed out on the opportunity to participate either actively or as an observer in any kind of athletic program although his competitive nature indicates that he would have enjoyed sports. Why would an industrialist like Staley would embark in the field of athletics? Dan Forrestal, author of The Kernel & the Bean: The 75 Year History of the Staley Mfg. This decade 1920-1930, would begin with the creation of the Staley athletic program and the beginning of the Decatur Staleys football club. Staley was gearing up for what would be his most prolific decade.
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