Throwback Thursday: Old Tyme Tales

The following are excerpts from Richard Whittingham's terrific book What a Game They Played.

George Halas told this story many times. In 1927, an aging Joe Guyon, then thirty-four years old, was in the backfield for the New York Giants. As he faded back to pass, Halas, the Bears' right defensive end, burst through. Guyon's back was to Halas, a perfect set-up for a blind-side hit, maybe a fumble, but if nothing else a reminder that the game of football was a rough one. At the last second, however, Guyon unloaded the pass and wheeled around to greet the charging Halas with his knee. It broke several of Halas' ribs. Guyon shook his head at the grimacing Chicago Bear on the ground.
"Come on, Halas," he said. "you should know better than to try and sneak up on an Indian."

Red Grange remembers that refereeing was a little looser in the 1920s and early '30s than it is today, open, so to speak, to improvisation.
"They had a referee in the 1920s, Jim Durfee, who was a character. He and George Halas were pretty good friends. But Durfee loved to penalize the Bears right in front of the bench. When Halas was riding him pretty hard in a game one day, Jim began marching off a 5-yard penalty. Halas got really hot. 'What's that for?' he hollered.
"'Coaching from the sidelines,' Jim yelled back. (It was in fact illegal in those days)
"'Well,' said George, 'that proves how dumb you are. That's fifteen yards, not five yards!'
"'Yeah,' said Jim, 'but the penalty for your kind of coaching is only five yards.'
"Another day Jim was penalizing the Bears 15 yards and Halas cupped his hands and yelled, 'You stink!' Jim just marched off another 15 yards, then turned and shouted, 'How do I smell from here?'
"After the game, however, they'd probably have a drink together."

George Musso, great guard for the Chicago Bears from 1933 through 1944, recalls the legendary collisions between his teammate Bronko Nagurski and Clarke Hinkle of the Green Bay Packers:
"Hinkle once plunged into the line and ran past me only to meet Nagurski, our linebacker, head-on. Nagurski hit him so hard that Hinkle was knocked back. He went backpedaling past me into the Green Bay backfield. But somehow he stayed on his feet and charged right back past me again. It was the only time I ever saw a back go by me three times on one play."

Ray Flaherty, who made the Hall of Fame as an end with the New York Giants, was also a fine head coach for the Washington Redskins from 1937 through 1942. The story of his first encounter with "Slingin'" Sammy Baugh, his rookie quarterback in 1937, is a classic.
At the team's first workout at summer camp, Flaherty wanted to see just how good a passer Baugh was. He told Wayne Miller, the Redskins' all-Pro end, to run a short pattern over the middle and buttonhook just behind the middle linebacker. Then he turned to Baugh, "I want you to hit him square in the eye with the ball," Flaherty said.
"Sure, coach," the rangy twenty-three-year-old Texan said and moved into his then-tailback position to take the snap from center. Then Baugh looked over his shoulder at Flaherty and said, "One thing, coach. Which eye?"