The 20 Biggest Baddest Bears of All Time; #5 Ed Sprinkle

No. 5 Ed Sprinkle

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images...jpg?1345685525
Ed Sprinkle (photo courtesy of fanbase.com)


Ed Sprinkle was known as “The Claw.” Sprinkle’s nickname came from an arm rip he used to discard blockers, ball-carriers or QBs. Sprinkle was known by many as “the meanest man in pro football.”


Doug Buffone didn’t disagree.


“Ed Sprinkle has to be on that list,” Buffone said. “I didn’t play with him, but you heard about him as a player when you came into the league and played for the Bears. He RUINED people.”


He was a member of the 1940s All-Decade team as a defensive end and is in the Bears’ Ring of Honor.


George Halas said of Sprinkle, “the greatest pass-rusher I've ever seen" and "a rough, tough ballplayer, but not a dirty one.”

"The Claw" played before any of us will remember him so we may want to consult with our fathers or grandfathers about what is truth and what it legend but if Doug Buffone says that Ed Sprinkle was one of the meanest men to have ever played the game I'm gonna believe him. After all he played next to one of the other meanest men to have ever played the game for most of his career.

Sprinkle was the Bears defensive end and maybe Halas' "situational pass rusher" of that era. We don't know how many sacks he recorded since those stats weren't kept at that time but if Halas praised his as the "best" of anything then I guess we can believe it. His didn't hand out praise like that any more frequently than he handed out big paychecks.

Maybe the more interesting thing is that playing DE for the Bears Sprinkle missed just 3 games from 1946 through 1956 yet he was only as big as a modern sized Safety at 6'1" and 206lbs.

Sidenote. With all the talk over the years about SACKS, before they counted. Games are on tape, has there been an unoffical sack count tatal from the games? I know ,what 10 years or so , before sack totals started, you'll hear player XXXX had X sacks befor they counted. What about to older era's?

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Originally Posted by yttocs

Sidenote. With all the talk over the years about SACKS, before they counted. Games are on tape, has there been an unoffical sack count tatal from the games? I know ,what 10 years or so , before sack totals started, you'll hear player XXXX had X sacks befor they counted. What about to older era's?

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Don't know. Maybe there isn't enough interest to even go back and review all of that just for the sake of antiquated stats. Maybe no one cares all that much.

I have a DVD here called "The Chicago Bears: The Greatest Defensive Players by Position." The very first person on the defensive line mentioned was Ed Sprinkle. According to the Bears historian at the time this DVD was made, he was famous for the clothesline tackle, which has been outlawed. There were opposing players who felt that Sprinkle was a dirty player. Also, when asked about what he found to be the best thing about being a member of the Chicago Bears, George Blanda said that it was the fact that he didn't have to go up against Ed Sprinkle.

This man is not in the Hall of Fame. According to one man on the DVD, the reason is because he never received the media attention necessary to get him enshrined. I hope that one day voters wake up and realize that this is a guy who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. While he wasn't named as one of the Bears' two greatest defensive ends on the DVD (the two who were were Doug Atkins and Richard Dent), he no doubt deserves to be in the Hall.

By the way, here are all the top defenders by position in the history of the Bears:

DE: Doug Atkins, Richard Dent
DT: Dan Hampton, Steve McMichael
S: Gary Fencik, Richie Petitbon
CB: Red Grange, George McAfee
OLB: Otis Wilson, Wilbur Marshall
MLB: Dick Butkus

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Originally Posted by yttocs

Sidenote. With all the talk over the years about SACKS, before they counted. Games are on tape, has there been an unoffical sack count tatal from the games? I know ,what 10 years or so , before sack totals started, you'll hear player XXXX had X sacks befor they counted. What about to older era's?

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Hell, they should honor the old timers and give them some sack credits. Break out that calculator for Deacon Jones.

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Originally Posted by short faced bear

Hell, they should honor the old timers and give them some sack credits. Break out that calculator for Deacon Jones.

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Deacon Jones was a stud. I think i've heard him say he had over 200 sacks. Their D line back them was incredible. Lundy, Grier, Olsen & Jones.

http://www.ramsusa.com/fear.html

Sorry, back to the OP, Sprinkle was a mean ass dude. I've seen a few clips from him by NFL films & people who got hit by the "Claw" said it was like getting smacked by a chainsaw.

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Originally Posted by short faced bear

Hell, they should honor the old timers and give them some sack credits. Break out that calculator for Deacon Jones.

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And "Mean Joe" Greene.

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Originally Posted by Dagan81

And "Mean Joe" Greene.

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Another great one. Hey Dags, where did you get that DVD?

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Originally Posted by BearJim

Another great one. Has Dags, where did you get that DVD?

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I got it off of Amazon.com, Jim. The proper title that is different than the one in the DVD is "The Chicago Bears: A Tradition of Defense." There are two DVDs. The first one goes into detail about the greatest defenders in Bears history by the position they played, while the second one has "America's Game: The 1985 Chicago Bears", an NFL Films documentary on George Halas that was filmed after his death in 1983 and was narrated by the late, great John Facenda, and short piece about a Canadian man who began painting likenesses of Dick Butkus onto canvases. I got this(-ese) DVDs for Christmas this last year, and I personally bought the 12-game set of the best Bear games from the 1985 season, which included "The Viking Miracle", "The Refrigerator's" first rushing touchdown in the first Packers game in Chicago on Monday Night Football, the Dallas beatdown, the sickening loss to Miami which I have yet to watch because I feel like that had McMahan been healthy we would have won that game, and all the postseason games (Divisional Round vs. Giants; NFC Championship Game vs. Rams; Super Bowl XX vs. Patriots).