Dick Butkus
Richard Marvin Butkus was an American professional football linebacker, sports commentator, and actor. He played football for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League from 1965 to 1973. He was invited to eight Pro Bowls in nine seasons, named a first-team All-Pro five times, and was twice recognized by his peers as the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year. Butkus was renowned as a fierce tackler and for the relentless effort with which he played. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most intimidating linebackers in professional football history.
Butkus was born in Chicago and played his entire football career in his home state of Illinois, which began at Chicago Vocational High School. He was a linebacker and a center for the Illinois Fighting Illini. He was a twice consensus All-American, and he led the Illini to a Rose Bowl victory in 1963 and was deemed the most valuable player in the Big Ten Conference. Butkus was named college football's Lineman of the Year in 1964. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.
Butkus was selected by the Bears as the third overall pick in the 1965 NFL draft. He soon established himself as a ball hawk with his penchant for forcing turnovers. During his NFL career, he intercepted 22 passes and recovered 27 fumbles, and he was responsible for causing many more fumbles with his jarring tackles. His tackling ability earned him both admiration and trepidation from opposing players. In 2009, the NFL Network named Butkus the most feared tackler of all time.
Butkus is credited with having defined the middle linebacker position and is still viewed as the "gold standard by which other middle linebackers are measured". In his honor, the Butkus Award recognizes American football's most outstanding linebacker. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, and his No. 51 jersey was retired by the Bears. Following his playing career, Butkus worked in acting, sports commentary, and celebrity endorsement. He was active in philanthropy through the Butkus Foundation, which manages various charitable causes.
Early life
Butkus was born in Chicago, the youngest of eight children, and first to be born in a hospital. He was a very large baby, weighing at birth. His father John, a Lithuanian immigrant to Ellis Island who spoke broken English, was an electrician and worked for the Pullman-Standard railroad car manufacturing company. His mother, Emma, worked 50 hours a week at a laundry. Butkus grew up in the Roseland neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. He was a fan of the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League and attended their games at Comiskey Park. His older brother Ron played football for three colleges and tried out for the Cardinals before quitting due to a bad knee. For four years starting at age 15, Butkus worked with his four brothers as a mover.Butkus played high school football as a fullback, linebacker, punter, and placekicker for coach Bernie O'Brien at Chicago Vocational High School. He averaged five yards per carry as a fullback, but preferred playing linebacker, where he made 70 percent of his team's tackles. In Butkus's first year on the varsity team, Chicago Vocational surrendered only 55 points in eight games. In 1959, he was the first junior to be honored by the Chicago Sun-Times as Chicago's high school player of the year. Injuries limited his play as a senior, but he was still heavily recruited by colleges to play football.
In the summer of 1960, Butkus was the starting catcher on a Chicago Park District baseball team known as the Sundodgers. An article in the Daily Calumet credits Butkus with driving in all of the Sundodgers' runs in a loss by hitting a home run to center field.
College career
Butkus chose to attend the University of Illinois, and played center and linebacker from 1962 through 1964 for the Illinois Fighting Illini football team. He initially wanted to play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish; however, the team frowned upon married players at the time. In his first year on the varsity team, he was named to the 1962 All-Big Ten Conference football team as the third-team center by the Associated Press and second-team center by United Press International. In 1963, Illinois compiled an 8–1–1 record and defeated Washington in the 1964 Rose Bowl. Butkus was named the team's most valuable player for the season, and was awarded the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the Big Ten's most valuable player. He was a unanimous choice as a center for the 1963 College Football All-America Team, earning first-team honors from all seven major selectors.As a senior in 1964, Butkus was named the team's co-captain along with safety George Donnelly. UPI deemed Butkus college football's Lineman of the Year for 1964, and he was named the player of the year by the American Football Coaches Association and The Sporting News. For the second consecutive season he was deemed the Illini's most valuable player. He was chosen for the 1964 All-America team by five of the six major selectors. In a cover story for Sports Illustrated that season, sportswriter Dan Jenkins remarked, "If every college football team had a linebacker like Dick Butkus of Illinois, all fullbacks soon would be three feet tall and sing soprano." Butkus also finished sixth in Heisman Trophy balloting in 1963 and third in 1964, rare results both for a lineman and a defensive player. According to statistics kept by the university, he completed his college career with 374 tackles: 97 in 1962, 145 in 1963, and 132 in 1964.
Professional career
Butkus was the third overall selection of the 1965 NFL draft, taken by the Chicago Bears, and also in the second round of the 1965 AFL draft by the Denver Broncos of the American Football League. After several days of recruiting by both the teams and leagues, his decision to sign with the Bears was viewed as a major victory for the NFL. Although the Bears offered him less money than the Broncos, playing for his hometown team and coach George Halas was more enticing. His rookie contract was worth $200,000. Along with fellow future Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, Butkus was one of three first-round picks for the Bears that NFL draft. The pick they used for Butkus had been acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers.1965–1970
Succeeding hall of famer Bill George at middle linebacker, Butkus made an immediate impact as a rookie in 1965. He established himself as a ball hawk by intercepting five passes and recovering six opponents' fumbles, and he was also credited unofficially with having forced six fumbles. Against the New York Giants on November 28, he intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble, and was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Week by the AP for the first of four times in his career.He finished third in balloting for the AP's rookie of the year award, behind Sayers and Ken Willard of the San Francisco 49ers, with AP sportswriter Jack Hand remarking that Butkus would have certainly won if there was a separate award for defenders. He was named a first-team All-Pro by the AP and was invited to his first of eight straight Pro Bowls.
In 1966, Butkus was named the second-team middle linebacker on the All-Pro teams of the AP, UPI, Newspaper Enterprise Association, and New York Daily News, with each selector placing him behind Ray Nitschke of the Green Bay Packers. He reclaimed the first-team spot on the UPI and NEA teams in 1967, the AP team in 1968, and the Daily News team in 1969, all of which he occupied through the 1970 season.
Butkus scored the first points of his career in 1969, when he tackled Steelers' quarterback Dick Shiner in the end zone for a safety on November 9. He also recorded 25 tackles in the game, and for his efforts was recognized as the NFL Defensive Player of the Week by the AP. That 38–7 win for the Bears was their only one of the season; they finished with a 1–13 record, which was the worst in franchise history. Additionally, Butkus's five-year contract had reached its end. A number of Bears players, including Butkus, expressed interest in being traded or cut by the team, but he signed a multi-year contract extension prior to the 1970 season to remain in Chicago. The contract raised his salary from $50,000 per year to around $80,000 to $100,000 per year.
Despite the ineptitude of the Bears as a team, Butkus developed a reputation around the league as one of its best players. In both 1969 and 1970, he was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the NEA, which was voted on by NFL players. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in September 1970 with the caption, "The Most Feared Man in the Game". A panel of NFL coaches that year named Butkus the player they would most prefer to start a team with if they were building one from the ground up.
1971–1973
Prior to the 1971 season, Butkus underwent preventive surgery on his right knee; he had torn ligaments in high school, but was able to continue playing due to strong muscles compensating for the injury. In the Bears' first ever game at Soldier Field on September 19 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Butkus turned in a great performance. With the Bears down 15–3 in the 4th, Butkus picked off quarterback Terry Bradshaw twice. Butkus did intercept a pass from Bradshaw a third time but was called back by a penalty against the Bears. In the final minutes with the Bears down 15–10, Butkus forced a fumble on running back Warren Bankston which was recovered by Bears defensive end Ed O'Bradovich on the Steelers' 12-yard line. The turnover led the Bears to score and win 17–15. In 1971, he recorded 117 tackles and four interceptions, leading the Bears in both statistics. On November 14, he scored a point; in the closing minutes of a game against the Washington Redskins, the score was tied at 15 and the Bears had lined up to kick an extra point. The snap was low and went past holder Bobby Douglass, who then raced back to retrieve the ball and looked to pass it. Butkus, who was playing as a blocking back, ran into the end zone and leapt to receive the pass for the winning score. Butkus later called the play his favorite of his career. Despite the statistical output, for the first time since 1966 Butkus was not named to a major All-Pro first-team, instead earning second-team honors from the NEA and Pro Football Writers Association.Butkus sparked controversy in 1972 with the release of Stop-Action, a memoir describing the final week of the 1971 season. The Bears had lost their final five games in 1971, and Butkus used the memoir as an outlet for his frustrations and grievances. In particular, he harshly criticized the Detroit Lions organization, saying, "I think they are a lot of jerks, from the owner, the general manager, the coach on down... If we were voting for a jerk team or organization they'd have my vote all the way." The Lions responded with a 38–24 win over the Bears in week 3 of 1972. After the game Lions linebacker Mike Lucci, whom Butkus had labeled a "crybaby", denied that the book had any bearing on the game's outcome, but told reporters, "Butkus should just keep his mouth shut and play football." Butkus, who was notoriously surly with reporters, also denied any connection and accused the media of sensationalism. Bears teammate Gale Sayers later said he did not like the book, feeling Butkus was above such name-calling. The season as a whole was another productive one for Butkus, who reclaimed the first-team middle linebacker spot on the major All-Pro teams and was invited to his final Pro Bowl.
Early in the first quarter against the Houston Oilers in 1973, Butkus pounced on a fumble in the end zone for the only touchdown of his career. Houston tight end Mack Alston accused Butkus of intimidating the officials, saying he "grabbed the ball and started yelling 'touchdown, touchdown, after which "the officials looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and called it a touchdown." His season was cut short after nine games by a lingering right knee injury, which he had been playing through for years, but was further aggravated after it gave out in week 5 against the Atlanta Falcons. Prior to the 1974 season an orthopedic surgeon told him, "I don't know how a man in your shape can play football or why you would even want to." The injury ultimately forced him to retire in May 1974 at age 31.