George Burdette Corbett (June 14, 1908October 11, 1990) was a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player who played at the halfback and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

positions for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

from 1932 to 1938. He played college football at

Millikin University Millikin University is a private university in Decatur, Illinois. It was founded in 1901 by prominent Decatur businessman James Millikin and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Media Decaturian The ''Decaturian'', also known as ...

Early years

Corbett was born in 1908 in

Dix, Illinois Dix is a village in Jefferson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 461 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Mount Vernon Micropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Dix is located in northern Jefferson County at (38.440676, -88. ...

. He graduated from Arthur High School in

Arthur, Illinois Arthur is a village in Douglas County, Illinois, Douglas and Moultrie County, Illinois, Moultrie Counties in Illinois, with Arthur's primary street, Vine Street, being the county line. The population was 2,231 at the 2020 census. The Arthur area i ...

. He enrolled at

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois, with a population of 70,522 as of the 2020 Census. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Ce ...

, where he won 10

varsity letter A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met. Description ...

s in football, basketball, and baseball. During his four years with the Millikin football team, Corbett played halfback, scored 202 points, and led the team to a 24-4-2 record. He was captain of the 1931 team.

Professional football

Corbett played professional football in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the

from 1932 to 1938, including the Bears' championship seasons of 1932 and 1933. In seven NFL seasons, he appeared in 47 NFL games, rushed for 425 yards, passed for 233 yards, tallied 14 receptions for 250 yards, scored three touchdowns, and kicked an extra point and a field goal. Corbett announced his retirement from football at the end of the 1938 season. Corbett also played quarterback for the

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. T ...

in 1939.

Later years

Corbett died in 1990 at Decatur Memorial Hospital in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbett, George 1908 births 1990 deaths People from Arthur, Illinois People from Jefferson County, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois American football halfbacks Millikin Big Blue football players Chicago Bears players