Luckman, Sidney
Football
b. Nov. 12, 1916, Brooklyn, NY
d. July 5, 1998
The first of the modern professional T-formation quarterbacks, Luckman was a triple threat as a single-wing tailback at Columbia University. George Halas, the Bears' coach, hand-picked him to play quarterback, in large part because of his intelligence.
Luckman played sparingly in his rookie year, 1939, but became a starter in 1940, when the Bears fully modernized the formation by using a split end to one side and a man in motion to the other. Their 73-0 victory over the Washington Redskins in the NFL championship game started a virtual stampede toward the T. The New York Times wrote of his performance, "No field general ever called plays more artistically. He was letter perfect."
The 6-foot, 200-pounder was also an excellent ball handler and an accurate passer. In 1943, when he was named the league's player of the year, a Sid Luckman Day was held at the Polo Grounds and Luckman responded by throwing 7 touchdown passes in a 56-7 rout of the New York Giants. In the Bears' 41-21 win over Washington for the league championship that season, he passed for 276 yards and 5 touchdowns.
In a 21-14 victory over the Giants for the 1946 championship, Luckman scored the winning the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter when he faked to George McAfee running to the left and bootlegged the ball to the right for a 19-yard run.
He became a backup to Johnny Lujack in 1949 and retired after the 1950 season. During his career, he completed 904 of 1,744 passes, a 51.8 percentage, for 14,683 yards and 137 touchdowns. He also punted 230 times for a 38.4-yard average, rushed for 2 touchdowns, and returned 14 interceptions for 293 yards and 1 touchdown.