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 the Bears founder and football pioneer, George Halas, she witnessed much of N.F.L. history from a young age, then took the team’s reins in 1983.

She inherited the Bears from her father in 1983, one of the few women in sports to hold such a powerful position.