Many years ago George Halas was sitting down in his office with place kicker/quarterback George Blanda when rookie linebacker Dick Butkus hurried into the office with a look of terror on his face. Butkus said “Coach you have to come outside and see what’s going on outside on the practice field. The three men ran outside and there above the five man tackling sled was a whispy white apparition with a smile on it’s face. As the spirit hovered it held it’s arms above it’s head in a parallel gesture in what looked to the men as a touchdown signal. Halas broke down in tears and Blanda asked the coach what was wrong. Halas told the players that he thought the ghost might be his father whom he’d never had a chance to say goodbye to because he was on the road with the Decatur Staleys trouncing the then Milwaukee meat packers with his T-formation. As the players comforted the coach, a bloody referee shirt appeared on the ghosts body while it’s still held its arms aloft in a touchdown gesture. Halas then stopped weeping and laughed saying “that’s my old man alright”. The players were confused by Halas’s certainty. Halas continued “You see my father was a high school football referee and he was murdered by an angry coach after he had made a questionable call that had lost the coach the Illinois Class 3A state football championship.” Butkus and Blanda were spooked but Halas stood there and smiled the smile of a long snapper who had just hiked a perfect spiral to a second string quarterback holder. Halas explained “You see boys when that murderer went to trial he cursed my father saying ‘I bet that terrible ref wishes he could have changed his call. I hope he roams the as a spirit worrying about his bad call.” Halas took a deep inhale a breath like a coach who just called a naked bootleg play that scored a touchdown then looked at the players peacefully saying, “ you see boys, my old man is stubborn son of a bitch, and he knows even if you are stuck between heaven and hell, a good ghost referee never changes his call.” With that Halas returned to his office and rumor has it that later that day he drafted the “Kansas Comet” Gayle Sayers.
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Mitch Albom’s Real NFL Ghost Stories
