Sid Luckman

Sidney Luckman (November 21, 1916 – July 5, 1998) was an American professional football quarterback who played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) from 1939 through 1950. During his 12 seasons with the Bears, he led them to four NFL championships in 1940, 1941, 1943, and 1946.

Sportswriter Ira Berkow wrote that Luckman was "the first great T-formation quarterback", and he is considered the greatest long-range passer of his time.<ref name="GreatJewsinSport"/><ref name="JewsinSport">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="AJHS">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1943. Luckman was also a 3× NFL All-Star (1940–1942), 5× First-team All-Pro (1941–1944, 1947), 2× Second-team All-Pro (1940, 1946), 3× NFL passing yards leader (1943, 1945, and 1946), 3× NFL passing touchdowns leader (1943, 1945, and 1946), 3× NFL passer rating leader (1941, 1943, and 1946), named to the NFL 1940s All-Decade team, had his No. 42 retired by the Bears, and tied the NFL record of 7 touchdown passes in a game. To date, Luckman still holds the all-time NFL record for touchdown percentage,Template:Efn at 7.9 percent.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Luckman was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965, and in 1988 he was declared a joint winner of the Walter Camp Distinguished American Award.<ref name="HallofFame">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="WalterCamp">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Following his retirement from playing, Luckman continued his association with football by tutoring college coaches, focusing on the passing aspect of the game.

Early life

Luckman was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrants from Germany, Meyer and Ethel Druckman Luckman.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His father sparked his interest in football at age eight, by giving him a football to play with.<ref name="GreatJewsinSport">Template:Cite book</ref> He and his parents lived first in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and then in a residence near Prospect Park in Flatbush, in Brooklyn, and it was here as a youngster that Sid first started throwing a football.<ref>The National Forgotten League: Entertaining Stories and Observations from ... - Dan Daly</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="JewsinSport2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He played both baseball and football for Erasmus Hall High School, with his football skills impressing recruiters from about 40 colleges.<ref name="NYT"/> Playing quarterback, he led the Erasmus Hall High School football team to two all-city championships.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

Luckman chose Columbia University after meeting Lions coach Lou Little during a Columbia/Navy game at the university's Baker Field athletic facility.<ref name="Columbia250">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Luckman was not admitted to Columbia College; instead, he attended the New College for the Education of Teachers, an undergraduate school which was within Teachers College at Columbia. He competed on the football team from 1936 until the New College closed in 1939, at which point he transferred to Columbia College.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> Coach Little had a problem getting good high school athletes because of the entrance requirements at Columbia, and Columbia didn't have any physical education undergraduate program so when New College was started, Lou Little was happy because they had a P. E. Department. In fact, the 1936 varsity football squad had five other New College students; Hubert Schulze, Edward Stanzyk, Oscar Bonom, Harry Ream, and Antoni Mareski.<ref>"Varsity Football Squad has Six N.C. Students", New College Outlook (III) 1 (September 24, 1936):1.</ref>

At Columbia, Luckman was a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. Keen to remain in Columbia to stay close to his family, he took on jobs such as dishwashing, babysitting, and messenger delivery around the campus.<ref name="JewsinSport2"/> At Columbia, as a part of the football team, he completed 180 of 376 passes for 2,413 yards and 20 touchdowns and finished third in the 1938 Heisman Trophy voting, behind Davey O'Brien and Marshall Goldberg.<ref name="Columbia250"/>

Chicago Bears

Draft

Hearing of Sid Luckman's exploits as a single-wing tailback at Columbia University, Chicago Bears owner and coach George Halas believed Luckman had the ability to become an effective T-formation quarterback, and traveled to New York to watch him play. Halas then convinced the Pittsburgh Pirates (later the Steelers) to draft Luckman second overall and then trade him to the Bears, because he was interested in using Luckman's skills to help him restructure the offensive side of the game.<ref name="Slater 189">Slater, Robert, 2003, p. 189.</ref> However, despite his successes at Columbia University, Luckman initially declined any further interest in pro football, instead preferring to work for his father-in-law's trucking company.<ref name="ColumbiaHOF"/> Halas went to work on convincing him otherwise.<ref name="Slater 189"/><ref name="ColumbiaHOF"/> After gaining an invitation to Luckman's tiny apartment for a dinner which Luckman's wife Estelle prepared, Halas produced a contract for $5,500 ($Template:Inflation today), which Luckman immediately signed.<ref name="NYT"/> At that time both at the college and pro levels, offenses were a drab scrum of running the ball with only occasional passes. In what was then the predominant single-wing formation, the quarterback was primarily a blocking back and rarely touched the ball. Most passing was done by the tailback, and then usually only on third down with long yardage to go. Halas and his coaches, primarily Clark Shaughnessy, invented a rather complex scheme building on the traditional T-formation, but needed the right quarterback to run it properly.<ref>Slater, Robert, 2003, p. 189–190.</ref>

Upon starting with Halas, Luckman mastered an offense that revolutionized football and became the basis of most modern professional offenses.<ref>Slater, Robert, 2003, p. 190.</ref> Eventually, Luckman tutored college coaches across the Big Ten, Notre Dame and West Point in the intricacies of the passing game.<ref name="AJHS"/>

T-formation

File:T Formation.svg

A common type of T-Formation

In 1940, during his second season with the Bears, Luckman took over the offense and led the Bears to the title game against Sammy Baugh and the Washington Redskins. The Redskins had beaten the Bears, 7–3, during the regular season. Using the "man-in-motion" innovation to great advantage, the Bears destroyed the Redskins, 73–0, in a game stated to be "the most one-sided game in the history of the sport".<ref name="One-Sided">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Luckman passed only six times, with four completions and 102 yards in the rout.

From 1940 to 1946, the Bears displayed their dominance in the game, playing in five NFL championship games, winning four, and posted a 54–17–3 regular-season record. In 1942, the Bears posted a perfect 11–0 record and outscored their opponents, 376–84, however, they lost the championship game to the Redskins.<ref name="perfect">The Bears were denied perfect seasons on two accounts. The first one was in the 1934 when the 13–0 club lost to the New York Giants in the Championship game. The second occurrence happened in 1942 when the 11–0 club was denied perfection and a "three-peat" by the Washington Redskins. See Chicago Bears seasons for full list</ref> Although the T-formation had been used many years before Luckman joined the Chicago Bears, he was central to Chicago's successful use of this style of play because of his game-sense and versatility.<ref name="NYT"/> Perfecting Halas' complex offensive scheme of fakes, men in motion, and quick-hitting runs, Luckman added the dimension of accurate downfield throwing. He was instrumental in his team's record-setting 73–0 win over the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL championship game. Sportscaster Jimmy Cannon once said in reference to Luckman's years at Columbia, "You had to be there to realize how great Sid was."<ref name="Columbia250"/> Luckman later became a sought-after tutor and instructor for universities wishing to install the T-formation as an offense.<ref name="Columbia250"/>

Service with the Merchant Marine

In 1943, as soon as the season had ended, Luckman volunteered as an ensign with the U. S. Merchant Marine. He was stationed stateside and while he could not practice with the team, he did receive permission to play for the Bears on game days during the following seasons. He returned again to the Bears, as a full-time occupation, in 1946 and led them to a fifth NFL championship.<ref name="AJHS"/>

Numbers and accomplishments

During his career, Luckman completed 51.8% of his passes for 14,686 yards<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and 137 touchdowns with 132 interceptions.<ref name="SidStats">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He averaged 8.4 yards per attempt,<ref name="SidStats"/> second all-time only to Otto Graham (9.0), and also has a career touchdown rate (percentage of pass attempts that result in touchdowns) of 7.9 percent.<ref name="SidStats"/>

In 1943, Luckman completed 110 of 202 passes for 2194 yards and 28 touchdowns.<ref name="SidStats"/> His 13.9% touchdown rate that year is the best ever in a single-season, while his 10.9 yards per attempt is second all-time. During one game that year, Luckman threw for 443 yards and seven touchdowns, still tied for the most passing touchdowns in one game; it was also the first 400-yard passing game in NFL history. His 28 touchdown passes in 1943 (in only 10 games) was a record that lasted until 1959, a 12-game season.

Luckman led the NFL in yards per attempt an NFL record seven times, including a record five consecutive years from 1939 to 1943, and led the NFL in passing yards three times. Luckman was a five-time All-NFL selection, was named the National Football League's Most Valuable Player Award in 1943, and led the "Monsters of the Midway" to championships in 1940, 1941, 1943, and 1946. Despite the fact that his career ended in 1950, Luckman still holds the record for touchdowns in single game with 7, and owns several Bears' passing records,<ref name="Columbia250"/> including:

• Intercepted: career (132), season (31 in 1947)
• Yds/Pass Att: career (8.42), season (10.86 in 1943)

NFL career statistics

Legend
	Joe F. Carr Trophy (NFL MVP)
	Won the NFL championship
	NFL record
	Led the league
Bold	Career high
Underline	Incomplete data

Regular season

Year	Team	Games		Passing												Punting					Template:Abbr
		Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
1939	CHI	11	7	23	51	45.1	636	12.5	27.7	85	5	4	9.8	7.8	91.6	27	1,199	44.4	67	0	—
1940	CHI	11	7	48	105	45.7	941	9.0	19.6	74	4	9	3.8	8.6	54.5	27	1,147	42.5	70	0	—
1941	CHI	11	11	68	119	57.1	1,181	9.9	17.4	65	9	6	7.6	5.0	95.3	13	534	41.1	52	0	—
1942	CHI	11	10	57	105	54.3	1,023	9.7	18.0	52	10	13	9.5	12.4	80.1	24	976	40.7	60	0	—
1943	CHI	10	3	110	202	54.5	2,194	10.9	19.9	66	28	12	13.9	5.9	107.5	34	1,220	35.9	78	1	—
1944	CHI	7	—	71	143	49.7	1,018	7.1	14.3	86	11	12	7.7	8.4	63.8	20	685	34.3	63	0	—
1945	CHI	10	2	117	217	53.9	1,727	8.0	14.8	65	14	10	6.5	4.6	82.5	36	1,299	36.1	61	0	4
1946	CHI	11	5	110	229	48.0	1,826	8.0	16.6	48	17	16	7.4	7.0	71.0	33	1,235	37.4	69	0	7
1947	CHI	12	7	176	323	54.5	2,712	8.4	15.4	81	24	31	7.4	9.6	67.7	5	177	35.4	42	0	2
1948	CHI	12	7	89	163	54.6	1,047	6.4	11.8	53	13	14	8.0	8.6	65.1	10	384	38.4	49	0	1
1949	CHI	11	2	22	50	44.0	200	4.0	9.1	34	1	3	2.0	6.0	37.1	1	16	16.0	16	0	1
1950	CHI	11	—	13	37	35.1	180	4.9	13.8	44	1	2	2.7	5.4	38.1	0	0	—	0	0	0
Career		128	61	904	1,744	51.8	14,686	8.4	16.2	86	137	132	7.9	7.6	75.0	230	8,872	38.6	78	1	15

Postseason

Year	Team	Games			Passing												Punting					Template:Abbr
		Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
1940	CHI	1	1	1–0	3	4	75.0	88	22.0	29.3	35	1	0	25.0	0.0	156.2	1	55	55.0	55	0	1
1941	CHI	2	2	2–0	13	21	61.9	201	9.6	15.5	42	0	0	0.0	0.0	93.6	5	184	36.8	—	0	—
1942	CHI	1	1	0–1	5	12	41.7	2	0.2	0.4	11	0	2	0.0	16.7	9.7	6	253	42.2	—	0	—
1943	CHI	1	—	—	15	26	57.7	286	11.0	19.1	66	5	0	19.2	0.0	135.6	3	111	37.0	—	0	—
1946	CHI	1	—	—	9	22	40.9	144	6.5	16.0	—	1	2	4.5	9.1	40.7	7	297	42.4	—	0	0
Career		6	4	3–1	45	85	52.9	721	8.5	16.0	66	7	4	8.2	4.7	89.4	22	900	40.9	55	0	1

Later years

Upon retiring as a player, Luckman remained with the Bears as a vice president.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1954, he became the team's quarterbacks coach on a part-time basis, a position he held through the 1960s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After departing the NFL, he went to work for Cel-U-Craft, a Chicago-based manufacturer of cellophane products, eventually becoming its president.<ref name="GreatJewsinSport"/> The company was a part of the Rapid American Corporation of which he also obtained shares.<ref name="IRSLuckman"/> In 1969, Rapid American was the subject of an Internal Revenue Service investigation over the payment of these shares and dividends, a case that Luckman and his wife appealed.<ref name="IRSLuckman">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Luckman's wife, Estelle Morgolin, died of cancer in 1981, and he underwent a triple heart bypass operation the following year. Luckman eventually retired to Aventura, Florida, where he died on July 5, 1998, at the age of 81. He was survived by his son, Bob, and two daughters, Gail and Ellen.<ref name="NYT">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="NNDB">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

List of honors

1. Joe F. Carr Trophy – National Football League Most Valuable Player in 1943.
2. College Football Hall of Fame in 1960.
3. Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965.
4. International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.<ref>Sid Luckman</ref>
5. Walter Camp Distinguished American of the Year Award in 1988.
6. Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.<ref name="ColumbiaHOF">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• List of select Jewish football players

Further reading

• Slater, Robert, 2003 Great Jews in Sports. Jonathan David Publishers Inc Template:ISBN

External links

• Template:Trim Pro Football Hall of Fame profile
• Template:Cfbhof
• Template:Footballstats
• Template:Find a Grave