sabotage, going back nine months since the lockout. The lockout would result in a two and half-year labor movement that would end in 1996. During that period, union workers fought to win back a fair contract, which would eliminate mandatory 12-hour shifts and mandatory overtime, and address safety concerns. The lockout turned into a national labor movement when union workers from two other Decatur-based companies, Caterpillar Inc. and Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, walked out on contract disputes in August 1994 and joined lockout workers from A. E. Staley in protests, picketing and public demonstrations. Chicago Bears football team In 1917, A. E. Staley's Fellowship Club formed a baseball team managed by future Baseball Hall of Famer Joe McGinnity. Gene Staley was a big sports fan, believing it helped build character and instill a sense of competition in his employees. Two years later, the Fellowship Club created a football counterpart. The players on both teams worked as semi-professionals in his factory. The football team, nicknamed the Decatur Staleys and headed by a coach named Brennan, competed on the independent circuit in 1919; after losing its first game, the team won six in a row to go 6–1. In March 1920, George Halas, a minor league baseball and college football player, was invited by A. E. Staley superintendent George Chamberlain to head the football team. Halas agreed on the conditions that he may sign and invite his former teammates to play and work for the company, which Chamberlain accepted. "I was elated", Halas wrote in his autobiography. "I saw the offer as an exciting opportunity but did not suspect the tremendous future Mr. Staley was opening for me." Halas played for both the football and baseball teams in addition to working as a scale clerk. In the summer, he assisted in forming the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which would eventually become the National Football League. The Staleys went 10–1–2 in the 1920 season and lost out to the Akron Pros for the championship. Although much of the team's home games were played at Staley Field, the team struggled financially due to the stadium holding only 1,500 fans and not producing enough money from ticket sales. The situation was exacerbated by company employees receiving 50 percent discounts on their tickets. Halas elected to move a game against the Chicago Cardinals to Cubs Park in Chicago to alleviate monetary stress. Nevertheless, A.