Harry O'Connell - Chicago Bears 1924
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 7:13 am
Compiling Bears game by game lineups using the Chicago Tribune archives, I came across Harry O'Connell in 1924.
The lineup for the Bears-Packers game on 21 September 1924 includes an O'Connell as a sub at C. This game was subsequently deemed to be an exhibition game, so the likes of Harry Englund, Glenn Greenwood and Pep Hurst, who also played in the game, do not receive credit for playing with the Bears in 1924, as they took no part in any regular season games.
O'Connell on the other hand did also play in the Bears-Racine game on 12 October 1924 and appears at LT. The Tribune lineup appears to indicate that O'Connell started at LT and Ed Healey was the sub. Healey was the regular LT with Ralph Scott backing him up. Scott did not play against Racine and was presumably banged up or otherwise unavailable. The 13 October 1924 Decatur Review report of the game clearly lists O'Connell as the starting LT and Healey for O'Connell amongst the subs.
The NFL lists O'Connell as Harry O'Connell of the University of Chicago, born 13 February 1904 in Chicago. Other sources (PFR) have him as Harold F. O'Connell. The Bears All-Time Roster has J.F. O'Connell of Penn State on the team in 1924. An old list of Penn State lettermen has no O'Connell listed, although I suppose he may have been a freshman there, or just not lettered for some other reason. More likely though, the Bears All-Time Roster is just wrong.
Anyway, digging through the archives, I found this 28 March 1959 obituary for Harry J. O'Connell. The obituary infers his date of birth as 10 August 1895 and there are WWI and WWII Draft Registration Cards that match this. It also mentions that he played football for the Bears in 1923. Whilst the year is out by 1, there was an O'Connell on the Opel A.A. team in Chicago in 1923 and possibly earlier too. The University of Chicago reference that the NFL has may just stem from him being a "Chicago" player and not necessarilly with the Maroons. If he did play in College then it would likely be some time from 1913/14 onwards.
A bit more excavating found this 1938 Chicago Daily News Photo and his full name - Harry Joachim O'Connell.
The lineup for the Bears-Packers game on 21 September 1924 includes an O'Connell as a sub at C. This game was subsequently deemed to be an exhibition game, so the likes of Harry Englund, Glenn Greenwood and Pep Hurst, who also played in the game, do not receive credit for playing with the Bears in 1924, as they took no part in any regular season games.
O'Connell on the other hand did also play in the Bears-Racine game on 12 October 1924 and appears at LT. The Tribune lineup appears to indicate that O'Connell started at LT and Ed Healey was the sub. Healey was the regular LT with Ralph Scott backing him up. Scott did not play against Racine and was presumably banged up or otherwise unavailable. The 13 October 1924 Decatur Review report of the game clearly lists O'Connell as the starting LT and Healey for O'Connell amongst the subs.
The NFL lists O'Connell as Harry O'Connell of the University of Chicago, born 13 February 1904 in Chicago. Other sources (PFR) have him as Harold F. O'Connell. The Bears All-Time Roster has J.F. O'Connell of Penn State on the team in 1924. An old list of Penn State lettermen has no O'Connell listed, although I suppose he may have been a freshman there, or just not lettered for some other reason. More likely though, the Bears All-Time Roster is just wrong.
Anyway, digging through the archives, I found this 28 March 1959 obituary for Harry J. O'Connell. The obituary infers his date of birth as 10 August 1895 and there are WWI and WWII Draft Registration Cards that match this. It also mentions that he played football for the Bears in 1923. Whilst the year is out by 1, there was an O'Connell on the Opel A.A. team in Chicago in 1923 and possibly earlier too. The University of Chicago reference that the NFL has may just stem from him being a "Chicago" player and not necessarilly with the Maroons. If he did play in College then it would likely be some time from 1913/14 onwards.
A bit more excavating found this 1938 Chicago Daily News Photo and his full name - Harry Joachim O'Connell.