Windy City Gridiron
George Burman may have only seen the field for one season with the Chicago Bears (14 games and three starts in 1964), but his impact on the NFL is still felt today. He appeared in 77 more games in his career, all as a reserve, but his last two years were spent as the first-ever long-snapping specialist.
Earlier this month, he was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame.
In 2020, NFL and Bears historian, our very own Jack M Silverstein, interviewed Burman and told his story in his article titled The First Long Snapper: The untold story of George Burman.
He was born in Chicago, attended Whiting High School in Indiana, and played his college ball at Northwestern before being a fifteenth-round draft pick of the Bears. He first started long snapping with the Los Angeles Rams, where he spent 1966 through 1970, but he became exclusively a long snapping specialist in 1971 after Washington traded for him.
Read more about Burman’s journey and place in the NFL in Jack’s fine piece in the link below.
I reached out to Jack to let him know I was going to write up a quick article about Burman’s Hall of Fame induction, and he told me that when he emailed Burman to congratulate him about the honor, that Burman told Jack his article was a big part of his being named a member of their 2025 Class.
Burman’s accomplishments were his own, but Jack telling his story shed light on something that may have been lost in the history of the National Football League.
