Dick Plasman

Herbert Gustave "Dick" Plasman (April 6, 1914 – June 20, 1981) was an American professional football player who played running back for eight seasons for the Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals. He is notably the last player in the National Football League (NFL) to play a game without a helmet.

Plasman was selected by the Bears in the third round of the 1937 NFL draft. On November 6, 1938, he crashed into Wrigley Field's brick wall during a home game against the Green Bay Packers, suffering a severe scalp laceration, three fractured ribs, a broken wrist, and a fractured arm. There were concerns about him ever playing again due to the wrist and arm injuries. However, he recovered and continued to not wear a helmet—as he did in the 1940 NFL Championship game on December 8, 1940, and Chicago's 1941 NFL Championship game victory on December 21, 1941, two weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. |Paul (Dr. Z) Zimmerman