Once upon a time, Virginia McCaskey inherited memorabilia from a cousin, a collection that included a box of old ticket stubs. In it, she said, was a torn admittance to the NFL’s 1932 championship game between the Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans.

The daughter of Bears founder George Halas, McCaskey watched the NFL go from a struggling start-up to the most powerful league in America.

The Chicago Bears and the rest of the National Football League mourn the passing of Bears owner Virginia Halas McCaskey, who lived to the extraordinary age of 102 years-old. Virginia was a trailblazer for women in professional sports as she rose to the position of team owner amid a male-dominated profession.