Virginia McCaskey, matriarch of Chicago Bears, turns 101 years old

Virginia McCaskey, the principal owner of the Chicago Bears, turned 101 years old on Friday. 

The team posted a gallery of pictures to mark the occasion. There was no word of a public celebration like the one for her 100th birthday at St. Emily Catholic Church in Mount Prospect with her sons last year.  

"I kind of like to think of her like the queen of Chicago. She's like royalty. Pretty amazing stuff – you know, she's been around, and she just takes great pride in this organization, and you know, we all feel that from the top down," Bears tight end Cole Kmet said at the time.  

The eldest child of George Halas

Mrs. McCaskey is the eldest child of "Papa Bear" George Halas Sr., who founded the Bears. He came on as a player/coach with the team – originally the Decatur Staleys – in 1920.

Mrs. McCaskey was born three years later and learned all about the team from her father, according to the Bears. She inherited the team after Mr. Halas' death in 1983. George Halas Jr. (Mrs. McCaskey's brother) had been the next in line, but he died unexpectedly in 1979 of a heart attack. He was 54 years old. 

His death was the subject of some controversy. 

Mr. Halas's body was disinterred, and an autopsy was performed in 1987 at the request of his former wife, Therese, and her two children, who said they had lingering doubts about the cause of his death, according to a report in the New York Times.

Dr. Michael M. Baden, a forensic pathologist and former New York City chief medical examiner who performed the new autopsy, said in a deposition that the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, spleen, gall bladder, testes, and spinal cord had been removed from the body and replaced with sawdust, the Times reported.

"Such complete removal and disposal of organs is most unusual and a cause for concern," Baden said in his deposition.

"The absence of the internal organs markedly diminishes the ability at this time to find drugs or poisons that might have been present at the time of death."

A family business

Michael McCaskey, the oldest of Virginia and Ed McCaskey's 11 children, took over as president of the team that same year his grandfather died. He held that position until 1999, at which point he became the team's chairman. Michael McCaskey died of cancer at the age of 76. 

His brother, George McCaskey, is currently the team's chairman.

Mrs. McCaskey married Ed McCaskey in 1943. They met while attending Drexel University. 

Ed, who eventually became vice president of the team, died in 2003.

"There is no one word to describe him," Virginia McCaskey said in a 2013 interview for Drexel's LeBow College of Business. "We had 60 good years. They weren't always easy. We had eight sons and three daughters. He used to call me 'Laughing Girl' because it was either laugh or cry. But it was all good.

"I think the thing that guided us in our married life was the fact that we thought that God was in charge, and I think He still is."

The Bears close out their season against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. That game will be televised on CBS at 3:30 p.m. (Central).