In June 1915, a couple of George Halas' fraternity brothers from the University of Illinois knocked on the door of his mother's house to pay their condolences; they had read his name in the paper the day before listing him as one of the casualties of a horrific boating disaster on the Chicago River, when the Eastland capsized and killed 844 people. Fortunately for George, for the Chicago Bears, and for the National Football League, he had missed the boat and was very much alive. In Bear With Me, Halas' grandson Patrick McCaskey tells this and many other stories about his famous grandfather from a fresh and personal family perspective. Bear With Me invites readers to share and reminisce not only about George Halas, the founding of the NFL, and the history of the Chicago Bears, but also about what it was like growing up in the family that founded and owns one of the most valuable franchises in all of professional sports. Have you ever heard of the Chicago Staleys? Perhaps not, but that's what the team was called during their first year in the fledgling league. What happened in that automobile showroom in Canton, Ohio, in 1920 when a half dozen men sat on the running boards and fenders of the Hupmobiles on display and formed the NFL? Can you guess why Art Rooney was sent on a secret mission to Philadelphia to check out Halas' future son-in-law, or what kind of a report he gave to Papa Bear? How about what it might be like to have Bill Wade teach you the finer points of playing quarterback after practice, or to spend your childhood Sundays on the Bears' sideline? McCaskey offers all this and much more, plus personal vignettes on many Bears greats including Walter Payton, Mike Ditka, Gale Sayers, Brian Piccolo, and others. Bear With Me is a book no Bears fan will want to be without.