10 Best Late-Round Draft Steals in Chicago Bears History
Published by Bob Warja on January 27, 2012
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Did you know that in the 16th round of the 1947 draft, the Chicago Bears took an End by the name of Verne Gange? Yes, that Verne Gagne.
Gagne, the 16-time world wrestling heavyweight champion, was the 145th selection in the ’47 draft, and at the age of 83 actually killed a man while in a Bloomington, Minnesota health care facility.
(That has nothing to do with the Bears, but I thought it was interesting.)
In researching for this article, I took a look at every single draft pick that the Chicago Bears made from 1936 through 2011. While the vast majority would make up a who’s who of who’s not, there are a few gems.
Meanwhile, some guys should have made it based on their nicknames alone. For example, there was a Gerry “Bones” Weatherly; Wally “Wah-Wah” Jones; Wilton “Hook” Davis and Floyd “Breezy” Reid.
They even drafted Walt Dropo, who later played 13 seasons in MLB and won the 1950 American League Rookie of the Year award with the Boston Red Sox.
And who can forget Leon “Muscles” Campbell, Ed “Buckets” Hirsch and Edgar “Special Delivery” Jones?
There were guys named Pilgrim, Lincoln and Heavens. There were also players who seemed born to play football, like Sturdy, Stonebreaker and “Bear” French.
I also found a guy I graduated high school with, Mark Zavagnin, a LB drafted by the Bears in 1983.
Heck, they even drafted Charlie Brown in 1966.
Even when adding up all the good ones, I couldn’t find more than a couple of truly great players. Still, the players listed in this slideshow turned out pretty well all things considered.
So, without further ado, I present to you the all-time Bears late round success stories.
