He played college football for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and was the Bears second-round draft pick in 1951.

[2] Noting during a 1954 game with the Philadelphia Eagles that his tendency to hit the center right after the snap led to the quarterback passing right over his head, he began to drop back from the line, not only enabling him to intercept and otherwise disrupt several passes from that game forward but also creating the familiar 4–3 setup (four linemen and three linebackers).

"[3] In addition to his 18 career interceptions, George also recovered 19 fumbles, and in 1954 scored 25 points on 13 PATs and four field goals.

Three of his successors as Chicago middle linebackers are also in the Hall of Fame: Dick Butkus (1965–1973), Mike Singletary (1981–1992) and Brian Urlacher (2000–2012).

In a 1989 article, in which he named his choices for the best athletes ever to wear each uniform number from 0 to 99, Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly not only chose George for number 61, but called him "the meanest Bear ever", no small thing considering the franchise's long history and reputation for toughness.