Dan Fortmann

Daniel John Fortmann (April 11, 1916 – May 23, 1995) was an American football guard and linebacker who played for the Chicago Bears in the National Football League (NFL).

He played college football for the Colgate Red Raiders.

Fortmann was born in 1916 in Pearl River, New York.

His father, Bernhard Gerhart Fortmann, was a New York native and salesman of butter and eggs.

His mother, Emma Margaret Doscher, was also a New York native.

Fortmann attended Pearl River High School, where he earned 12 varsity letters in sports and was the valedictorian of his class.

At age 16, Fortmann enrolled at Colgate University, where he played football, playing as a halfback as a freshman before moving to guard and becoming a starter in 1934 and 1935.

Colgate football coach Andrew Kerr called Fortmann "the best player I ever handled."

Playing for Chicago from 1936 to 1943, he was selected as an All-Pro for seven consecutive years from 1937 to 1943.

At age 19, Fortmann was selected by the Chicago Bears in the ninth and final round (78th overall pick) of the 1936 NFL draft.

After being drafted by the Bears, Fortmann was unsure whether he should attend medical school or play professional football.

Bears owner George Halas persuaded Fortmann that he could do both and advanced funds to Fortmann for medical school.

After speaking with Halas, Fortmann signed with the Bears in May 1936.

At the time, he was the youngest person ever signed by an NFL team.

Due to his medical school obligations, Fortmann missed most of the Bears' sessions in his first four years with the team.

Fortmann remained with the Bears for his entire professional football career, lasting for eight years from 1936 to 1943.

He appeared in 86 games for the Bears.

After the 1935 season, he was selected to play in multiple all-star games, including the East–West Shrine Game (January 1, 1937) and the Chicago College All-Star Game (September 1, 1937).

Dick Hanley, who coached Fortmann in the Shrine Game, praised Fortmann as a great blocker and urged Chicago Bears owner George Halas to sign Fortmann.

In addition to playing football, Fortmann was also an outstanding student at Colgate.

He received straight A's as a pre-med student and graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors at age 19.

He was also president of his senior class and a member of the Delta Upsilon (DU) fraternity.

By 1939, Fortmann had established himself as one of the best most valuable players in the NFL.

In voting by NFL coaches for the 1939 All-Pro Team, Fortmann received 37 points, the second-highest individual vote of any player.

He was the Bears' team captain starting in 1940 and led the team to NFL championships in 1940, 1941, and 1943.

Fortmann was team captain of the Bears starting in 1940.

As team captain, he led the Bears to back-to-back NFL championships in 1940 and 1941 with records of 8–3 and 10–1.

After the 1940 season, Fortmann was rated as the best lineman in the NFL.

The United Press called him "the heart and soul" of the Bears' ground attack that "rolled up a vast amount of yardage overland."

In the 1940 NFL Championship Game, the Bears defeated the Washington Redskins by a 73–0 score.

Fortman later cited the 1940 championship game as proof of Halas' skill as a "master of psychology."

The Bears had lost to the Redskins three weeks earlier, and Fortmann recalled that Halas kept reminding the Bears of that defeat every day, and when the team took the field for the championship game, "they were keyed the highest emotionally I ever saw them."

In 1941, during his medical internship, he described pro football as "just the means to an end", the end being practicing medicine as a surgeon.

Yet, Fortmann became fiercely loyal to Halas, saying: "Halas is the salt of the earth. There is nobody I admire and respect more than him."

In August 1942, quarterback Bob Snyder called Fortmann "a perfect football player" and "the most important man on the Bear squad."

The 1942 Bears compiled a perfect 11–0 record in the regular season and won the Western Division championship, but lost to the Washington Redskins in the 1942 NFL Championship Game.

Fortmann was the line coach for the Pittsburgh Panthers football team in 1944 and in 1945 served in the United States Navy in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II.

He engaged in a medical practice in Southern California from 1946 to 1984 and was the team physician for the Los Angeles Rams from 1947 to 1963.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965.

He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1983.