Dick Butkus, the player who perhaps best epitomized the tough and determined identity of the Chicago Bears, has died, the Tribune confirmed Thursday. He was 80.
A product of Chicago’s working-class South Side and the University of Illinois, Butkus became a fierce Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker before embarking on a modest but enduring television and acting career in Hollywood. “After football, it was difficult for me to find what I liked second best,” Butkus once told the Tribune. “Football was always my first love. That certainly didn’t mean I couldn’t find something else. And the proof of the pudding is where I have ended up today.
Another future Hall of Famer, Gale Sayers, also was selected in that first round by the Bears, making it one of the most productive drafts by one team in NFL history. The Denver Broncos of the then-fledgling American Football League, also drafted Butkus in the first round in 1965. Butkus’ status as one of the greatest of all time is remarkable considering he never made the playoffs and enjoyed just two winning seasons in his nine-year career. He was just that good — and ferocious.
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