It Pays, But It's Work

Pro football's best one-man team folded up last week. For eleven games, with little help or relief, 172-lb. Bill Dudley of the Pittsburgh Steelers had run around, under & over big 225-pounders. He was not fast, either, but with his jitterbug's change-of-pace, he became the National League's No. 1 ground-gainer (604 yards). He was also the team's sparkplug, did the kicking and passing, led the league in pass interceptions (10). Said he, retiring from pro football after ripping a cartilage in his knee: "I know my limitations . . . I'm not big enough to take such a beating."

Unlike some college teams, the pros could not win with one star and ten little helpers. In pro football, this had been a year of strong defense, mediocre offense, and of team play. Before 63,000 chilly fans at the Polo Grounds this week, the New York Giants, a squad that has no real standouts, earned a 31-to-0 victory and the league's Eastern division championship. Their victims, the Washington Redskins, had a good line all season, but it didn't stand up very well against the Giants.

Big Bad Bears. The Western National League crown was already being worn by a team that did have stars--but with discipline and teamwork to keep them shined up. So. strict were the Chicago Bears (won 8, lost 2, tied 1) that a player reporting one minute late for 9 a.m. practice got a $25 fine (it cost $50 to be caught out after n p.m., and half a game's pay for being caught at a bar). Football under the Chicago Bears' boss, George Halas, was not much fun but it paid well.

After every game each man on the team, including those who warmed the bench, is expected to write a report about the opposing players in his position. Before each game, the Bears' elaborate card index of the weaknesses in rival players is brought out and studied. Sample: the New York Giants' 225-lb. left tackle, Tex Coulter (dropped from West Point in June because his math grades were poor) is tough on defense, but he is apt to be a vulnerable link when the Giants have the ball. Halas' Bears practice three hours a day, get three lectures a week and homework.

The big bad Bears average 227 Ibs. in the line. Key. man in their T-formation attack is shrewd, 197-lb. Sid Luckman, 29, who does most of the thinking and all the passing. He leads the league with 1,826 yards gained by passes. His ball-carrying backfield mates are virtually middle-aged men (average: 28)--shifty halfbacks Hugh Gallarneau and Dante Magnani, fullback Bill ("Bullet") Osmanski.

Next week East will meet West for the pay-otf game at New York's Polo Grounds. The Bears are glad to have another chance at the Giants--for the Giants had not only handed Luckman & Co. one of their two defeats this season, but held them scoreless for the first time in eleven years.

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