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. He also played safety on defense for most of his career.

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. 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, at 7.9 percent.

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. 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. His father sparked his interest in football at age eight, by giving him a football to play with. 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.

He played both baseball and football for Erasmus Hall High School, with his football skills impressing recruiters from about 40 colleges. 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. 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.

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. 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.

Upon starting with Halas, Luckman mastered an offense that revolutionized football and became the basis of most modern professional offenses. Eventually, Luckman tutored college coaches across the Big Ten, Notre Dame and West Point in the intricacies of the passing game. 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. 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. and 137 touchdowns with 132 interceptions. He averaged 8.4 yards per attempt, In 1954, he became the team's quarterbacks coach on a part-time basis, a position he held through the 1960s.

After departing the NFL, he went to work for Cel-U-Craft, a Chicago-based manufacturer of cellophane products, eventually becoming its president.

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.

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.
  5. Walter Camp Distinguished American of the Year Award in 1988.
  6. Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.

See also

  • List of select Jewish football players

Notes

References

Further reading

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