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BILL BISHOP - INDUCTEE #73

hall of fame fast fact:

Marilyn met Bill Bishop when she was a student at Northwestern University and he was a rookie with the Chicago Bears. "He had a date with my roommate, but I had a paper due and I couldn't type," she said. "My roommate, who had a boyfriend, could type, so I went out with him." At the time, Marilyn swore she would never marry a football player. They were married in 1956.

Bill Bishop

Bill Bishop’s football career began at Borger High School. At 6‘3” and 230 pounds, Bishop was a natural to anchor the Bulldogs’ offensive and defensive lines.

After he graduated in 1948, he earned a full scholarship to play at North Texas under Coach Odus Mitchell. Bishop made a big impression, earning all Lone Star Conference honors as a defensive tackle.

Bishop played for Papa Bear George Halas’s Monsters of the Midway, the Chicago Bears. The big defensive tackle made the Pro Bowl in 1955 as the Bears reached the NFL championship game, losing to the New York Giants in the famous “sneakers” game, where the Giants wore tennis shoes for better traction on the frozen field.

Bishop played his last two seasons for Van Brocklin’s Minnesota Vikings before retiring in 1963.

Bill Bishop died in 1998 in Chicago at age 67.