Gibron was one of the most recognizable and colorful characters in NFL history. In Chicago, he quickly became the city’s most popular sports figure, paving the way for subsequent marketing with a Ford commercial filmed with a model named Melody.....snip....
Listed at 5-feet-11-inches and 250 pounds as a guard and nose tackle from 1949 to ’59, he weighed more than 300 pounds before he became head coach of the Bears. Yet he used to race players and often beat them in short sprints despite his shape and age......snip....
Former Cleveland Browns coach Paul Brown once said Gibron “had the fastest and quickest charge I ever saw.” When he played guard fro m 1950 to ’56, the Browns won three NFL championships and played in six title games. Gibron went to four Pro Bowls before ending his career with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1957 and the Bears in 1958 and ’59. That he failed to make the Hall of Fame was a particular disappointment to him. The official NFL Encyclopedia just published lists him among the 300 best players of all time......snip....
Born Sept. 22, 1925 in Michigan City, Ind., to Lebanese immigrants, Gibron joined the Marines when he was 18 and went to Valparaiso and Purdue after World War II. He kept his permanent home in Michigan City while staying in a Chicago apartment or hotel during football season. His father worked in a foundry and gave him this advice: “Dance as fast as you can dance. Run as far as you can run. Drink as much as you can drink. Do what you can. Be as big as you are.”