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Helmetless Bill Hewitt laterals to Bill Karr after receiving pass from Bronko Nagurski to win first NFL championship for the Chicago Bears.

STILL THE BEST: Bay City's Bill Hewitt Helped Chicago Win the 1st NFL Crown

Hall of Famer Invented the 'Hook & Lateral' to Win Championship for Bears

December 2, 2012       1 Comments
By: Dave Rogers

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The last man to play pro football without a helmet was from Bay City.

Bill Hewitt is most often remembered for his stubborn refusal to wear a helmet. He finally donned headgear in 1939, his final NFL season, but only because new NFL rules left him no choice.

The 1928 Central High graduate and University of Michigan end, Hewitt always felt the helmet was too constricting.

The same stand was taken by another Bay Cityan, Andy Karpus, who played for 15 different professional football teams in the 1930s and 1940s and never donned headgear.

While going without a helmet is an interesting sidelight, this should not overshadow the fact that Hewitt was one of the finest two-way ends ever to play football at any level, according to NFL historians.

Hewitt, who is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, scored 26 touchdowns, including three as a passer, in a pro career of 101 games 1932-43.

"Bill was a terror on offense but absolutely peerless on defense," states his Pro Football Hall of Fame biography. "Hewitt had a zest for competition and a record for making the biggest plays in the toughest situations. He was always conjuring up new gimmicks to foil the opposition."

The NFL championship game in 1933 was the first to pit the two division winners to determine the world champions of pro football. On December 17, 1933, the Bears hosted the New York Giants at Wrigley Field in Chicago in the NFL's inaugural championship game.

The game, witnessed by an estimated 26,000 fans, lived up to its billing. The contest featured lots of offense by both teams. After two field goals by the Bears' Jack Manders, the Giants responded with the first touchdown in NFL championship game history when Hall of Famer Morris "Red" Badgro connected with Harry Newman on a 29-yard touchdown play to put the Giants in the lead, 7-6.

In a Hewitt-designed trick play, Bronko Nagurski faked the run, threw a jump pass 14 yards to the helmet-less Hewitt, who in turn lateraled to Bill Karr who ran 19 yards to the end zone to win the game.

The 1931 University of Michigan football team was dominated by four players from Bay City, led by Hewitt.

Hewitt was a fullback on the Wolverine squad that went 8-1-1 and claimed a share of the Big Ten Title. He was most valuable player on the Harry Kipke-coached squad that out-scored opponents 181-27. The team lost only to Ohio State 20-7 and tied 0-0 with Michigan State.

Other former Bay City Central players on that team were Howard Auer, tackle, Louis Westover, quarterback/halfback, and tackle Frederick P. Clohset. Ann Arborite Estel Tessmer, who also played that year at quarterback for U-M, ended up as a teacher, coach and immensely popular athletic director of Bay City Central High for many years.

Hewitt is remembered also for his Saturday Evening Post article (ghost written by Red Smith) that pilloried coach George Halas of the Chicago Bears. Title of the article was "Don't Send Your Boy to Halas."

That the criticism of Halas was justified was shown by the trick he pulled on Hewitt: after Bill told him he was retiring before the 1939 season, Papa Bear nevertheless secretly sold his contract to Philly for $12,000.

As recounted by the late Lee DeLorge, local sports historian, Hewitt showed he was straight-arrow by fulfilling the contract with the Eagle's owner Bert Bell, his good friend. In fact, Hewitt played five years with the Eagles even though he was finally forced to don a helmet against his wishes.

Hewitt was the first to admit he wasn't much of a player either in high school or at the University of Michigan.

Once he reached the NFL, it was a different story. He was named all-league as a rookie by one major publication and repeated the honor in 1933, 1934,1936,1937, and 1938. The last two times he was selected as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.

These are only the signal points in the Hewitt career. Many still call him the best "two-way" end pro football ever produced. Hewitt was inducted posthumously into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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"The BUZZ" - Read Feedback From Readers!

vgsheehan Says:       On August 24, 2020 at 03:32 PM
As my Mom's (Margaret Hewitt Sheehan) brother, Bill was always a topic of conversation during the football season. I was surprised that Bay City had 4 players at Michigan.
Agree? or Disagree?


Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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