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Article updated: 12/12/2012 1:20 PM

500,000 coats later, Bears drive is still going strong

Gary Haeger started coat drive in 1988

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Last year, the Chicago Bears Coat Drive collected an estimated 30,000 coats.

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In 1988, Gary Haeger was the Bears' head equipment manager and Medlin his assistant. They were driving to Soldier Field on a Sunday to set up for a game. Out on the street were people shivering in the cold. Haeger and Medlin wondered how they could help. The idea of the Bears collecting coats was born. "He started it," Medlin says of Haeger, "and I picked up on it."