{"id":875935,"date":"2026-04-27T09:36:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/875935\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T09:36:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:36:23","slug":"today-in-chicago-history-bears-draft-mitch-trubisky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/875935\/","title":{"rendered":"Today in Chicago History: Bears draft Mitch Trubisky"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on April 27, according to the Tribune\u2019s archives.<\/p>\n

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Flashback: April 27, 1944<\/p>\n

\"SoldiersSoldiers carry Sewell Avery, chairman of the board of Montgomery Ward & Co., out of the building on April 27, 1944, after he was removed from his own office by the Army on instructions of Attorney General Francis Biddle. Avery had defied the Department of Commerce when it tried to take over the huge plant. (Frederick Giese\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

1944: Sewell Avery<\/a>, chairman of Montgomery Ward & Co., refused to renew a union contract on orders of the War Labor Board. That\u2019s when the feds moved in \u2014 literally \u2014 and moved Avery out<\/a>, still seated in a chair as though he were at his desk. (He did stand up for the elevator ride.)<\/p>\n

Avery didn\u2019t get his company back till 1945. Then, fearing a postwar depression, he refused to expand along with his competitors, and Wards hopelessly lost ground.<\/p>\n

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago<\/a>)<\/p>\n

High temperature: 87 degrees (2021)
\nLow temperature: 29 degrees (1945)
\nPrecipitation: 2.13 inches (1959)
\nSnowfall: 2.5 inches (2019)<\/p>\n

1926: A \u201cmachine gunner<\/a>\u201d made an early appearance in Chicago. Jim Doherty and Tom Duffy, members of the West Side O\u2019Donnell gang, and William H. McSwiggin<\/a>, an assistant state\u2019s attorney whose association with the O\u2019Donnell gang has \u201cnever been explained,\u201d were shot and killed in front of the Pony Inn in Cicero.<\/p>\n

At the dawn of the Al Capone era, prosecutor William McSwiggin was killed in a hail of machine gun bullets outside a Cicero tavern<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The shooter was rumored to be none other than Al Capone. The infamous gangster, who had set up shop in Cicero, quickly became a prime suspect but initially was nowhere to be found. Upon surfacing, he was arrested but denied having it in for McSwiggin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t kill him,\u201d Capone reportedly said. \u201cI liked the kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LarryLarry Demery, left, and Daniel Green, charged with murdering James Jordan, father of NBA star Michael Jordan, leave the courthouse in Lumberton, North Carolina, after a hearing on Oct. 5, 1993. (Jim Bounds\/AP)<\/p>\n

1995: Larry Martin Demery pleaded guilty<\/a> to the July 1993 murder of James Jordan<\/a>, Michael Jordan\u2019s father. Demery agreed to testify against Daniel Green at trial in a move to avoid the death penalty. Demery was sentenced<\/a> in May 1996 to life in prison.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer House Speaker Dennis Hastert leaves the federal court after being sentenced to 15 months in prison at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on April 27, 2016, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

2016: Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert was sentenced<\/a> in federal court in Chicago to 15 months in prison, sex offender treatment, two years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.<\/p>\n

\"AA memorial is set up near the Joliet Township home where 17-month-old Sema’j Crosby was found dead on April 27, 2017. (Jos\u00e9 M. Osorio\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

2017: Two days after she had been reported missing<\/a>, the body of 16-month-old Sema\u2019j Crosby was found<\/a> wedged underneath a couch inside her Joliet Township home. The case remains open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"First-roundFirst-round Chicago Bears draft pick Mitch Trubisky is introduced at Halas Hall in Lake Forest on April 28, 2017. (Chris Walker\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Also in 2017: \u201cTen years from now, every Bears fan will still be talking about Thursday night and that\u00a0jaw-dropping moment<\/a>\u00a0this football-crazed city will never forget,\u201d Tribune reporter Dan Wiederer wrote.<\/p>\n

Why did the Bears draft Mitch Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Bears traded away a massive amount of draft currency, sending the 49ers a four-pack of picks \u2014 Nos. 3, 67 and 111 in that year\u2019s draft plus a 2018 third-rounder \u2014 to slide up one peg to No. 2 on the draft board to draft Mitch Trubisky, a quarterback at North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Trubisky\u2019s tumultuous time with the Bears ended<\/a> after four seasons.<\/p>\n

\u2018When I get through with Chicago, they\u2019ll be loving me.\u2019 Looking back at first words from the Bears\u2019 top draft picks.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Want more vintage Chicago?<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the free\u00a0Vintage Chicago Tribune<\/a>\u00a0newsletter, join our\u00a0Chicagoland history Facebook group,<\/a> stay current with Today in Chicago History<\/a> and follow us on Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for more from Chicago\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0mmather@chicagotribune.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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