Chicago Bears 35

All-Stars 24

January 4, 1942

On January 4, 1942, the Chicago Bears met the NFL All-Stars in the 4th Annual All-Star game. The game was moved from Los Angeles to the Polo Grounds in New York due to war threats. Because of freezing weather and snow, the game was attended by only 17,725 fans. The net gate was $51,059, $25,529 of which was donated to the Navy Relief Fund. The 1941 NFL champion Bears were considered the greatest team ever assembled at that time. The game marked the farewell of such Bears greats as George McAfee, George Maniaci, Young Bussey, Dill Hughes, Ken Kavanaugh, and Dick Plasman due to war enlistment.

The All-Stars scored first on a 60 yard drive engineered by Washington’s Sammy Baugh. On the drive, Ward Cuff of the Giants had a pass reception of eleven yards and a run for another eleven before kicking a 19 yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. The Bears scored on a George McAfee one yard run early in the second quarter. A few minutes later, McAfee did it again when he returned a punt by Pittsburgh’s Art Jones 68 yards for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead. Bill Osmanski then intercepted a pass by Cecil Isbell of the Packers and returned it 39 yards to the Stars 6 yard line. Bob Swisher carried it in from there and the score at half was 21-3.

At halftime, the fans became disinterested due to the dominance of the Bears and engaged in a huge snowball fight. But, early in the third quarter, the Stars gained some life when they recovered a Norm Standlee fumble at the Bears’ 15. From there, Baugh connected with Perry Schwartz of the Brooklyn Dodgers for the touchdown. Later in the quarter, Baugh drove the Stars 65 yards and hit Billy Dewell of the Chicago Cardinals for the touchdown from 26 yards out bringing the score to 21-17.

The Bears, however, had no intention of losing this game and left their memories behind with a stalwart effort. They responded with a Luckman touchdown pass to Ray McLean late in the third and a Young Bussey to Ken Kavanaugh connection in the final quarter to bring the score to 35-17 and put the Stars away. The All-Stars scored again late in the final period on a another Baugh to Schwartz connection. The final was 35-24.

On the afternoon, the ferocious Bears' defense sent Green Bay’s Don Hutson and Washington’s Frank Filchok out of the game with broken ribs and inflicted a 4 stitch cut on Sammy Baugh's face. They threw punches and were heavily penalized for fighting and roughing.

From left to right, Pug Manders (Brooklyn Dodgers), Nello Falaschi (New York Giants), Sammy Baugh (Washington Redskins), Art Jones (Pittsburgh Steelers) practice before game.

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