When the College Football Stars Played NFL Champs

From 1934 to 1976, the NFL's preseason tradition included the Chicago Charities College All-Star Game, a game featuring college stars against the league champion. The last game of the long-forgotten series, played primarily at Soldier Field in Chicago, was forgettable: a 24-0 victory by the Pittsburgh Steelers in a deluge.

What the torrents fell in that final game, many fans stormed onto the field, splashing and slipping on a grass that looked like a lake. Television host Frank Gifford called it a "carnival" and the game mercifully ended in the third quarter. "Surrealist", the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described the finish.

But the series, conceived by a newspaper sports editor, was popular and often attracted more than 70,000 fans for a game. Attendance at the 1947 game was 105,840. (The game was not played in 1974 due to the strike by the NFL players.)

"It was a fascinating series of games," says Jon Kendle, director of football information and archives for the Professional Football Hall of Fame. “It's something that a lot of people were unaware of during the time it took place. And it's something that will never really happen again. The way the NFL is structured now, there is too much at stake for all parties involved. "

Sports publisher Arch Ward founded the game in 1933

Chicago Tribune Art Ward sports editor (center), founder of the Chicago Charity College All-Star Game, greets Notre Dame coach Terry Brennan.

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Times were different when Chicago Tribune Sports editor Arch Ward came up with the idea for the all-star game in 1933. College football was king back then. In 1926, 110,000 fans attended the Army-Navy game at Soldier Field, the stadium's formal dedication. In the early 1930s, the NFL needed the all-star game.

Ward was both a promoter and a reporter. He worked in public relations for Notre Dame football during two of legendary coach Knute Rockne's undefeated seasons, started the Golden Gloves boxing tournament, and in 1933 suggested that Major League Baseball hold a midseason display among the stars of the American and national leagues. The Midsummer Classic continues to this day.

In consultation with Chicago City leaders and Chicago Bears George Halas, Ward came up with a similar idea for soccer, pitting college stars against NFL champions. That kind of game was not unusual in those days; in 1939, there were nine games between college players and NFL teams. Ward's coup was getting the NFL to agree to let the best players out of college play as champions.

Ward decided that the proceeds from the game would be shared by Chicago-area charities. Thus began one of the greatest charitable endeavors in the history of the sport.

“Being a member of the College All-Stars was a competition I dreamed of as a kid,” says professional American Football Hall of Fame receiver Paul Warfield, who played in the game as an All-Star and with the Cleveland Browns. .

A panel of 30 sports journalists chose the first all-star team. The attendance was more impressive than the result, as 79,432 saw a goalless draw on August 31, 1934. Ward's column on the game dealt with a technological upgrade: lights at Soldier Field. "The giant audience could easily follow the details of the line game," he writes.

The 1935 All-Star roster included a Michigan player named Gerald ford, who would become the nation's 38th president. Attendance surpassed 100,000 in the 1942, 1947, and 1948 games. The 1943 and 1944 games were moved to the nearby Northwestern campus in Evanston, Illinois, to avoid a large gathering near downtown Chicago, considered a potential enemy target during WWII.