RIP Dick Butkus

[kidhawk]

Dick Butkus dies at 80, a Bears legend for all generations

The Hall of Fame linebacker from Chicago’s South Side, who died Thursday at 80, set a standard with his ferocity, anger, aggressiveness — and football instinct — for what a Chicago Bear is and what fans want a Chicago Bear to be.

chicago.suntimes.com

All Time Bears great. He was 80.

 

[Biscanebay12]

RIP Mr. Butkus

 

[IndyHawk]

The "Monsters of Midway" as you saw on NFL films started with
this man..RIP

 

[morgulon1]

My dad met him in the 80s through his work, shook his hand and said he fingers the size of hot dogs. Ferocious MLB

 

[Seahawker]

 

[pmedic920]

:{(

 

[onanygivensunday]

Living in the Chicago area and being a Bears fan, I was a senior in HS in 1967 when the Bears drafted Butkus (and Gale Sayers).

Butkus was the best MLB of his era.

RIP, brother.

 

[Threedee]

Butkus goes on to join the Boy Named Sue, where they will have drinks and discuss whether or not their fathers set them up for success in life.

 

[86Hawk]

RIP to one of the best.

 

[sc85sis]

One of the best and most ferocious to ever do it. RIP.

 

[DJrmb]

He was a legend and will be missed.

 

[hawkfan68]

Dick Butkus, Karl Mecklenburg, Tom Jackson, and Ted Hendricks were some of the LBs that were dominant while I was in my youth years. RIP Dick Butkus.

 

[SeAhAwKeR4life]

I remember him announcing games, played before my time as a fan, sad to see a legend go...

 

[Chawker]

Sad, real sad. Thanks for the memorys Dick. R.I.P.

 

[Lagartixa]

The "Monsters of Midway" as you saw on NFL films started with
this man..RIP

The Bears stole that nickname from the University of Chicago, which is actually located around the Midway Plaisance between 59th and 60th Street (so the nickname actually made sense). The Bears also copied the "C" logo that looks kinda like a wishbone from the University of Chicago.

The University of Chicago football team was Big Ten champion seven times and national champion twice.
Eleven men who played football for the University of Chicago are in the College Football Hall of Fame.
The University of Michigan's fight song, "The Victors," was written to celebrate beating the University of Chicago in a football gamed that gave Michigan an undefeated season and the Western Conference title.
The first winner of the award now called the Heisman Trophy (back then it was the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy) was Jay Berwanger, a halfback who played at the U of C.
That's all pretty funny now. The University of Chicago completely stopped having a football team in the 1930s. Football returned in 1969, but at a very different level. Today the University of Chicago's football team plays in Division III against teams from places like Monmouth College, Beloit, and Grinnell.

ObButkus:
I was just a little too young to be able to appreciate Butkus playing. While I probably did see him in moments of games my parents were watching, I was too young to understand or identify players. Similarly, my mom woke me up when I was just a couple of months old and held me in front of the TV so I would technically have seen the first moon landing. I obviously don't remember it, but I saw it. Anyway, I never really followed the NFL until the 1976 season. In '75, I was getting more interested in what was happening when I sat with my dad when he was watching games, especially because kids in the neighborhood taught me how to play football and we'd been playing a lot, but I didn't start to actually follow the league until '76. Butkus retired in 1973.

But I sure heard a lot about Butkus from my dad. Dad loved the way Butkus played and told lots of stories over the years about things he'd seen Butkus do on the field.

 

[Cyrus12]

I remember him from American Gladiators

 

[IndyHawk]

The Bears stole that nickname from the University of Chicago, which is actually located around the Midway Plaisance between 59th and 60th Street (so the nickname actually made sense). The Bears also copied the "C" logo that looks kinda like a wishbone from the University of Chicago.

The University of Chicago football team was Big Ten champion seven times and national champion twice.
Eleven men who played football for the University of Chicago are in the College Football Hall of Fame.
The University of Michigan's fight song, "The Victors," was written to celebrate beating the University of Chicago in a football gamed that gave Michigan an undefeated season and the Western Conference title.
The first winner of the award now called the Heisman Trophy (back then it was the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy) was Jay Berwanger, a halfback who played at the U of C.
That's all pretty funny now. The University of Chicago completely stopped having a football team in the 1930s. Football returned in 1969, but at a very different level. Today the University of Chicago's football team plays in Division III against teams from places like Monmouth College, Beloit, and Grinnell.

ObButkus:
I was just a little too young to be able to appreciate Butkus playing. While I probably did see him in moments of games my parents were watching, I was too young to understand or identify players. Similarly, my mom woke me up when I was just a couple of months old and held me in front of the TV so I would technically have seen the first moon landing. I obviously don't remember it, but I saw it. Anyway, I never really followed the NFL until the 1976 season. In '75, I was getting more interested in what was happening when I sat with my dad when he was watching games, especially because kids in the neighborhood taught me how to play football and we'd been playing a lot, but I didn't start to actually follow the league until '76. Butkus retired in 1973.

But I sure heard a lot about Butkus from my dad. Dad loved the way Butkus played and told lots of stories over the years about things he'd seen Butkus do on the field.

On NFL films they spin it to fit with him on the Bears..
They still were the Monsters in 84 too.
I never saw Butkus play live but I heard about him a lot.
Hard to believe he only played 8 seasons.

 

[chris98251]

Butkus was just intimidation incarnate as a player, vicious man on the field, we have seen how teams avoided Kam, back then people also took out players with some dirty tactics, Butkus's knees were the target, he had several surgeries and injuries due to this. Even at the end when he hobbled more then ran on just guts he was a playmaker. When younger he could do it all and was considered fast for a LB. Butkus was a Legend before he even quit playing. That and what a great football name, Dick Butkus. He was a one name ICON before Elvis, Madonna and Cher or Prince.

 

[RiverDog]

If I were to play word association and someone said to me "middle linebacker", my first response would be Dick Butkus. I was in jr. high and high school when he was in his prime.

Back in the day, I remember reading an article quoting some players that said Butkus was one of the most intimidating players in the game because he would yell and scream as he made tackles, but that Bobby Bell of the Chiefs actually hit harder.

Butkus was part of the old school linebackers, along with guys like Jack Lambert, Willie Lanier, Ray Nitschke, Henry Jordan, et al. They were mostly run stoppers as the game was geared towards the running back. The modern-day linebackers, ie Bobby, Luke Kuechly, Brian Urlacher, et al, needed to be a little more versatile. It's one of the reasons why I don't like comparing players from different eras.

RIP.

 

[NoGain]

Yeah, growing up in Chicago, Butkus was in the Chicago HOF along with the likes of Gale Sayers, Walter Payton, Dan Hampton, Bobby Hull, Stan Makita, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Ernie Banks, etc... Legend. He was such a mean and nasty SOB who played the game as if it wasn't a game at all, but rather some life or death war of survival. When you think of all time great defensive players, I mean the very best of the HOFers, he's in that group. Nobody liked playing against him.