Holds Bears single-season records for most rushing touchdowns (14 in 1965), touchdowns (22 in 1965), and all-purpose yards (2,440 in 1966).15 • Ranks among Bears career leaders with 991 rushing attempts (5th), 4,956 yards rushing (5th), 6,263 yards from scrimmage (5th), 2,781 kickoff-return yards (5th), 9,435 all-purpose yards (4th), 39 rushing touchdowns (5th), and 56 touchdowns (5th).
16 • Four-time Pro Bowl selection (1965, 1966, 1967, and 1969).
17 • Three-time Pro Bowl MVP (1966, 1967, and 1969).
18 • Five-time First-Team All-Pro selection (1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969).
19 • Five-time First-Team All–Western Conference selection (1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969).
20 • 1965 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
21 • 1969 NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
22 • NFL 1960s All-Decade Team.
23 • #40 retired by Bears.
24 • Named to NFL’s 75th Anniversary Team in 1994.
25 • Named to Sporting News All-Century Team in 1999.
26 • Named to NFL 100 All-Time Team in 2019.
27 • Number 21 on the Sporting News’ 1999 list of the 100 Greatest Players in NFL History.
28 • Number 22 on the NFL Network’s 2010 list of the NFL’s 100 Greatest Players.
29 • Elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.
A legendary figure from the early days of the NFL, Bronko Nagurski combined brute strength with tremendous acceleration to establish himself as the greatest running back of the 1930s. Virtually impossible for one man to bring down, Nagurski terrorized his opponents with his aggressive running style, with author Jim Dent writing in his book, Monster of the Midway: Bronko Nagurski, the 1943 Chicago Bears, and the Greatest Comeback Ever, “Bronko ran the football like he was boiling over with rage. He was one of the greatest big running backs in history.” An outstanding defensive player as well, Nagurski proved to be equally intimidating on that side of the ball, delivering vicious hits to opposing ball-carriers from his tackle position. Leading the Bears to five division titles and three NFL championships, Nagurski earned All-Pro honors seven times between 1930 and 1937, with his brilliant all-around play prompting teammate Red Grange to call him the “best football player of all time.” A member of the 1930s All-Decade Team, Nagurski later received the additional distinctions of having his number retired by the Bears, being named to the NFL’s 75th Anniversary Team, receiving a top-40 ranking from both the Sporting News and the NFL Network on their respective lists of the 100 Greatest Players in NFL History, and being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Born to Polish-Ukrainian immigrant parents in Rainy River, Ontario, Canada, on November 3, 1908, Bronislau Nagurski moved with his family to International Falls, Minnesota, at the age of nine. Spending his early years working on the family farm and delivering groceries for his father’s grocery store, Nagurski developed his powerful legs as a youth by running to-and-from school four miles each day. After further developing his physique by laboring at nearby timbering operations as a teenager, Nagurski began competing in sports in high school, starring in football and basketball, while also excelling in track and field as a sprinter, discus-thrower, shotputter, and high-jumper.
Following his graduation from Bemidji High School, Nagurski accepted an athletic scholarship from the University of Minnesota after the school’s head football coach, Clarence Spears, while driving through International Falls to meet another player, discovered Nagurski plowing a field by himself.
Beginning his college career in 1927, Nagurski spent the next three seasons gradually transitioning from guard and end to defensive tackle and fullback. Excelling at all four posts for the Golden Gophers, Nagurski established a fearsome reputation on both offense and defense, gaining All-America recognition three straight times. Particularly dominant as a senior in 1929, Nagurski performed so well on both sides of the ball that he became the only player ever to earn All-America honors at two positions in the same season.
Subsequently signed by George Halas for the then-princely sum of $5,000, Nagurski arrived in Chicago in 1930, with his 6'2", 225-pound frame making him easily the league’s largest running back. Since the NFL did not begin keeping an official record of offensive statistics until 1932, the amount of yardage that Nagurski gained on the ground his first two years in the league remains a mystery. However, he clearly had an enormous impact on his new team, helping the Bears improve their record from 4-9-2 in 1929 to 9-4-1 in 1930, with his outstanding play earning him Second-Team All-Pro honors two straight times.
Nagurski then led the Bears to three consecutive division titles and a pair of NFL championships from 1932 to 1934, with the team compiling an overall record of 30-3-7. Gaining First-Team All-Pro recognition all three years, Nagurski established himself as the league’s dominant player on both sides of the ball. After finishing second in the NFL with 533 yards rushing and leading the league with four rushing touchdowns in 1932, Nagurski gained a total of 1,119 yards on the ground over the course of the next two seasons. Although those numbers might not seem overly impressive, it must be considered that the George Halas Bears were not viewed as a collection of stars, but, rather, as a team whose members paid little attention to their individual statistics. Explaining during a 1984 interview with Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated why he never posted huge rushing totals, Nagurski, who averaged fewer than 10 carries a game over the course of his career, said, “Halas stockpiled backs, and he believed in spreading it around. Plus, he wanted to keep me fresh for defense, where I’d put in a full afternoon. How many of today’s 1,000-yard runners would like to spend half the game playing defense?”
Despite the relatively modest numbers that Nagurski compiled on offense, he gained general recognition as the premier running back of his time, with New York Giants head coach Steve Owen once saying, “How do I plan to stop Nagurski? With a shotgun as he’s leaving the dressing room.”
Bronko Nagurski intimidated his opponents with his bruising style of play.
Courtesy of RMYAuctions.com
Instilling fear in his opponents with his destructive style of running, Nagurski made even the league’s greatest players cringe at the thought of challenging him on the football field, with Giants Hall of Famer Mel Hein stating, “If you went at him low, he would stomp you to death. If you went at him high, he just knocked you down and ran over you.”
Ernie Nevers of the Chicago Cardinals suggested, “Tackling Bronko was like trying to stop a freight train running downhill.”
In discussing the manner in which he disposed of would-be tacklers, Nagurski said, “Just before they got to me, I’d knock ’em out of the way and keep running.”
Nagurski’s biographer, Harold Rosenthal, wrote, “He probably broke more bones, legitimately, than any other player. Contact with him, either trying to stop him as a runner, or trying to
