Another thing I missed when I was out of the country – the death of the only sports figure I ever actually wanted to be.
Dick Butkus, Chicago Bears legend and the man who defined the position of middle linebacker, died last week at the age of 80:
A ferocious tackler drafted out of the University of Illinois, Butkus was an imposing force as the Bears’ middle linebacker for his nine NFL seasons in the 1960s and 1970s, and made eight Pro Bowls.
Butkus thought his intensity on the field was simply how the game should be played, according to an article on the Bears’ website.
“I thought that was the way that everybody should have played, but I guess they didn’t because they were claiming that I had a special way of playing,” he said when asked about his ferocity, according to the article.
No one remembers when I became a Chicago Bears fan – it was almost certainly before I knew what football was – but as long as anyone could remember, I knew who Dick Butkus was.
And while I was always too tall, for my weight and build completely wrong for football, literally, the only athletic ambition I ever had was to be a middle linebacker like the great one himself
Funny video. NFL Films… that announcer’s voice takes me back. I was in my teens when Butkus played, but I was a Vikings’ fan so I never really got to see him but twice a season. I noted that all his hits were hard but there was not one cheap shot.
Old school… literally played his “heart” (body) out. For a barely winning team.
He only had two winning seasons during his career.
I learned a lot about life from the seventies Bears and Butkus.
(And it was all worth it in ’85)