NFL: Charlie Chuck Bednarik was a proud Slovak and legend of American football

He was only eighteen when he enrolled in the army. He was placed at a machine gun on board the B-24 Liberator bomber and sent to destroy targets in Nazi Germany. He knew he would cut death everywhere.

But he survived, and when he returned home, he became a legend. Charles Philip Bednarik, a former American football star, was born a hundred years ago in the family of Slovak emigrants.

Slovak church and school

« He was very proud of his origin. He always mentioned he was a Slovak, » he says to Sportnet on Kenneth Safarowic, the son -in -law of Charles Bednarik.

Parents of the future star of the NFL, Karol Bednárik and Mária Pivovarníčková, came to America in 1920 from the village Široké near Prešov. They settled in the town of Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, where most residents were immigrants.

“There was a Slovak, Polish, Hungarian and Irish church in Bethlehem. As a boy I went to the Slovak school of St. Cyril and Methodius and I learned Slovak.

I learned English later at school, but whenever I came home, I talked to my parents again in Slovak, ”he explained 16 years ago in an interview with the Truth Charlie“ Chuck ”Bednarik.

He grew up in poor conditions. My father was employed in the local steel plant, my mother took care of six children. Charlie has therefore worked since his childhood to contribute to the family budget. He did a golf Caddie or worked on a farm for two dollars per day.

Hell over Berlin

Even before his secondary school, he enlisted and became a member of the US warfare. « I wanted to be a pilot, but I didn’t do rehearsals. So I was put in the bomber like a shooter, » Bednarik explained years ago.

He participated in 30 air missions. Even after years of carefully at home, he took care of yellowed papers, on which he wrote neat in the dates and targets of the shares – the first 27 August 1944 over Berlin, the last 20 April 1945 over Zwiesel.

He remembered how he got up before the event at four in the morning, and every time he had a hearty breakfast, as if it were to be his last meal in his life. « All around us was raging anti -Treal fire, we heard the shots penetrate the plane. Ping! Ping! » He spoke to Sports Illustrated magazine.

He had a few times. Even when their machine was damaged by flakmi from the anti -airbed cannon returning to the base and crashed. Chuck had to kick the window and jump to the ground from six meters.

« After returning home he planned to work in a steelmaker as his father, but the family was visited by American football coach from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and convinced them to go to Chuck to study, win his education and play football for school, » says Kenneth Safarowic, who wrote a book about his famous mother -in -law.

Defender and Center

At the University of Bednarik, he fully developed his sports talent.

He was one of the best university players of American football in the country. At the end of 1948, Philadelphia Eagles chose it in the first position in the NFL draft.

The first two matches sat on the bench. On his way from Detroit, he went on the train to coach Alfred Neal and insisted to replace it somewhere where he would play.

In the next match he has played from the beginning and since then another fourteen years. On the very first year, the newcomer won his first championship title, when Philadelphia beat Los Angeles Rams 14: 0 in the first finals. Each Eagles received $ 1090 for a reward and a gold clip for a tie.

Unlike the present, in the 50s or 60s of the last century, the best American football players did not earn many. Chuck Bednarik never earned more than $ 27,000 per season (even with bonuses).

That’s why he was working on football by selling concrete out of season. He was so nicknamed « concrete Charlie. »

In fourteen seasons he played 169 matches for Philadelphia from 172 possible.

Today, it is a matter of course that American football players specialize in individual positions. But Chuck Bednarik was one of the last universal, who managed to fully enter as a defender and center.

Former teammate Tom Brookshier said he was pulling his opponents down like a rag doll. He won the second championship title with Philadelphia in 1960. When he said goodbye to him two years, the club donated a thousand dollars and a color TV.

Hit on Frank Gifford

Bednarik was a champion of harsh clashes with rivals and one of them entered history. In America, he was elected 44. The most famous moment in the history of the NFL.

On the way to the championship title, Eagles came on November 20, 1960 against New York Giants at the legendary Yankee Stadium.

Video: Chuck Bednarik « framed » Frank Gifford

Two minutes before the end, the home Frank Gifford seized the balls, but it was barely a few meters with it when the defense intervention Bednarik folded to the ground. Hard, but clean.

Gifford remained still lying on the pitch, and the Bednarik clenched his fist from joy. Thanks to the quick photographer John Zimmerman, one of the most iconic NFL shots was created.

« I saw Gifford running with the ball, so I stood in his way. It looked like a Volkswagen was rushing a one -way and a truck was going. Giffrod rolled, the ball flew into the air.

Her teammate Weber seized, and since only a minute of the match remained until the end of the match, I knew it was dry, ”Bednarik recalled after years of the commemorative moment in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Gifffroda was taken from the playground on a stretcher. His wife stood in front of the Giants dressing room when the team doctor pushed his head out of the door and said, « I’m afraid he’s dead. » Only after she sighed did Mrs. Gifford learned that the doctor was talking about a security guard who had a heart attack during the match.

Frank Gifford suffered a severe concussion and spent ten days in the hospital. Although he initially rejected Bednarik’s justification, flowers and fruit, he later explained that he did not feel any grip to him. « Chuck hit me exactly as I would hit him. He hit me with a shoulder, it was a pure clash. That’s the football. »

He played Slovak songs

In 1948 Chuck Bednarik married Emma Margetich. They were born five daughters – Charlene, Donna, Carol, Pam and Jackie.

« Parents met at the fun where his father and his relatives went to play, » explains Charlene. He also spontaneously pulls out a few Slovak words that he remembers: How are you? Well … « And he had one more favorite that he liked to use … »

With the sister -in -law Kenneth Safarowich for a while, they argue for a while when they both suddenly burst: « Go to Rici! » They laugh.

« Our mother is still alive, she celebrated a hundred years in August last year, » says Charlene. Kenneth adds that Chuck was also an excellent musician. He played several tools, preferred to accordion.

« He liked Slovak songs very much, but don’t ask me about the names. »

His wife Carol shuffles into the call. « Grandma from her father’s side was a very good cook. She cooked various goodies. For example … pigeons. And I remember doing an excellent potato salad. »

Chuck Bednarik has visited the country of his ancestors several times. In his own words, for the first time in the late 60s and last in the late 1980s.

He died in 2015 at the age of 89.

In Slovakia, they named it a championship trophy, which is competing for the best teams of American football. In America, his name is the price for the best defensive university player.

In 2012, his statue was unveiled at the Franklin Field stadium, which belongs to the Pennsylvania University and where in 1958-70 they played their matches Philadelphia Eagles.