As the United States turns 250 years old in 2026, CBS News Chicago is looking at how Chicago has influenced American sports.
Chicago's first documented professional sports team was founded in 1870. The Chicago White Stockings, who eventually became the Chicago Cubs, not the White Sox, were a charter member of the Natonal League of Professional Baseball Clubs.
Since then, it's been decades of heartache offset by pockets of championship glory, and some of the most pivotal figures in American sports history.
"You can't talk about sports in America without talking about Chicago," said Chicago Tribune columnist Paul Sullivan, who has spent more than four decades chronicling the city's vast sports scene.
Legendary Chicago Bears owner George Halas was one of the founding fathers of the NFL.
"The Bears, obviously. Papa Bear basically invented pro football," Sullivan said.
The Bears were born as the Decatur Staleys in 1920, but Halas built the NFL charter franchise into the Monsters of the Midway in Chicago. From Dick Butkus to Brian Urlacher and Gale Sayers to Walter Payton, the Bears have the largest collection of Pro Football Hall of Famers. And no single team captivated the nation like the iconic 1985 Bears, who won Super Bowl XX under legendary coach Mike Ditka.
"Yeah, I mean, Ditka is ... he just transcended everything, and obviously, the Saturday Night Live skit, the Super Fans thing helped spread that thing," Sullivan said.
The Cubs once had the country's longest-suffering fan base, enduring the "Curse of the Billy Goat, the 1969 "Black Cat Game," and the "Bartman Ball" in 2003, but the North Siders finally shook their "Lovable Losers" label in 2016, ending the franchise's over-century-long championship drought.
Between the 1919 Black Sox scandal and the 2005 World Series title, two-time White Sox owner Bill Veeck was a sports marketing pioneer, literally adding fireworks to the fan experience with the first exploding scoreboard at the original Comiskey Park.
Before the dynamic duo of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews led the Blackhawks to a trio of Stanley Cup titles in the 2010s, hockey legends Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita starred for the "Original 6" franchise during the rough and tumble days of the NHL in the 1960s and 70s. And there's nothing like the rip-roaring rendition of the national anthem at the Madhouse on Madison.
Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Caray made singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" a staple at Wrigley Field. The 7th inning stretch tradition actually started on the South Side, when Caray was broadcasting for the White Sox in the 70's.
Michael Jordan is immortalized atop the Mt. Rushmore of Chicago sports superstars. "His Airness" elevated the city on the global stage, with the Bulls soaring to six championships during the electrifying 90s dynasty.
"To this day, you still see people in other countries wearing Bulls hats, even though he's been out of the game for so long," Sullivan said. "It just permeates the whole American culture, Chicago sports. And, we're talking about is it the best sports city in America? And I think there's a good argument that it is, just because Chicago fans are so passionate and so loyal."
With the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament, it's worth noting the term "March Madness" was coined in the high school hoops hot bed of Illinois. The 1963 Loyola Ramblers remain the only team from the state to win a Division I national championship while also making history with the groundbreaking "Game of Change" that led to college basketball integration.
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America at 250