Ed Sprinkle obit

Former Bear Ed Sprinkle, 1923-2014, was standout defensive player

 

He was not on the list.

 

Ed Sprinkle, a standout defensive end for the Chicago Bears in the 1940s and 1950s, was nicknamed "The Claw" and known for his rough style of play, once acknowledging in a book about the team's rivalry with the Green Bay Packers that "if you got a chance to kill a guy, you killed 'im."

Mr. Sprinkle — diminutive by today's standards at 6-foot-1-inch and a little more than 200 pounds — was labeled the meanest man in football in a 1950 Collier's magazine article.

"Ed was one of the toughest defensive ends I've ever seen in football. He was fierce," said former Bear Ralph Jecha, who played alongside Mr. Sprinkle in 1955. "He wasn't that big, but if you came around the end, he got you around the throat, and you suffered. You really suffered."

Prior to his NFL career, Sprinkle won three letters in football and two in basketball and earned All-Border Conference while at Hardin–Simmons University in the early 1940s. Hardin-Simmons dropped its sports program due to World War II, causing Sprinkle to transfer to the United States Naval Academy for his senior season in 1943, where he earned All-Eastern honors.

Mr. Sprinkle, 90, died of natural causes Monday, July 28, said his daughter, Susan Withers. He was a resident of Palos Heights and previously lived in Palos Park, she said.

Born Edward Alexander Sprinkle in Bradshaw, Texas, Mr. Sprinkle grew up in Tuscola, Texas. He played football and basketball at Hardin-Simmons University in nearby Abilene, then transferred to the U.S. Naval Academy, where he also played football.

Encouraged by a fellow Hardin-Simmons alum, Bears player Clyde "Bulldog" Turner, Mr. Sprinkle tried out for the Bears in 1944. He made the team and early on played as a blocker on offense before shifting exclusively to defense.

Nicknamed "The Claw" for the use of his forearms against opponents, Mr. Sprinkle employed his tactics frequently against the Packers, whom the Bears played twice each season.

In November 1946, the first-place Bears faced Green Bay at muddy Wrigley Field in a game critical to the Bears' championship dreams. Chicago struggled to cross midfield all day. In the third quarter, Mr. Sprinkle and lineman Mike Jarmoluk pressured a Packers running back, forcing a fumble that Mr. Sprinkle recovered and took in 30 yards for a touchdown. The Bears won the game 10-7 and went on to capture the NFL championship.

Mr. Sprinkle always contended his style of play was rough but legal. His techniques, according to the Collier's article, included tripping and spinning his opponents.

"As far as anybody from the Bears or Green Bay trying to hurt somebody or play dirty, it wasn't in the cards as far as I'm concerned," Mr. Sprinkle told the authors of the 1997 book on the Bears-Packers rivalry, "Mudbaths and Bloodbaths: The Inside Story of the Bears-Packers Rivalry." "But if you got a chance to kill a guy, you killed 'im."

Mr. Sprinkle, who played in four Pro Bowls, worked during the off-season for Inland Steel as an engineer. He retired from the Bears after the 1955 season but remained a frequent presence in town, appearing at Bears reunions and on the golf course, where he was known as "Sprinks the Left-Handed Golfer," Jecha said.

Mr. Sprinkle owned a tile and carpeting store in Chicago's Mt. Greenwood neighborhood and later moved his family and his store to Palos Park. He also owned a bowling alley in Chicago Ridge for a time, his daughter said.

In 1962, Mr. Sprinkle returned to football as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, a semipro team in the United Football League. He took the job after turning down an offer to assist Turner in coaching the New York Titans.

In 1969, Mr. Sprinkle was named by Hall of Fame voters in NFL cities to the All-1940s pro football squad as part of a promotion celebrating the league's 50th anniversary. He was named the second most underrated Bear ever by Tribune sports columnist David Haugh in 2004. (Running back Matt Suhey topped that list.)

After leaving college, Sprinkle was signed by George Halas' Chicago Bears in 1944. At first, he played on both defense and offense; he caught 32 passes for 451 yards and seven touchdowns during his career. His ability to rush opposing quarterbacks, however, soon made him a defensive specialist.

Sprinkle quickly developed a reputation for his aggressive playing style; in the 1946 NFL Championship Game, New York Giants George Franck, Frank Reagan, and Frank Filchock left with injuries sustained in hits from Sprinkle. One of Sprinkle's tackling strategies, a clothesline tackle with his forearm, led to him receiving the nickname "The Claw" from Collier's Weekly.

While accused of "dirty play" and unsportsmanlike conduct during his career, leading to calls in 1949 from coaches Greasy Neale and Buddy Parker for the NFL to discipline him, he defended his play as not being any different from other players of the era. According to Sprinkle, "We were meaner in the 1950s because there were fewer positions and we fought harder for them. It was a different era." He was praised by Halas "the greatest pass-rusher I've ever seen," while Giants quarterback Y. A. Tittle remarked in 1969 that "quarterbacks would look with only one eye for receivers. They kept the other eye on Sprinkle

Mr. Sprinkle's wife, Marian, died in 2003.

Mr. Sprinkle also is survived by two sons, Alan and Steven; five grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

The Professional Football Researchers Association named Sprinkle to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2007. Sprinkle was also inducted in the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame.

On January 15, 2020, Sprinkle was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020.

Sprinkle was also an avid golfer. He had a handicap of 18 at the Midlothian Country Club.