RIP Dick Butkus

One thing I've wondered about with Butkus is his uniform.

He is a large man, but the way his jersey is cut makes him look that much larger, especially pre-merger when the NFL didn't have names on jerseys.

I don't know if he wore a bigger jersey or shoulder pads or what.

Looking at it? I think it has to do with the number and the optical effect it creates. Either the No. 51 is smaller than it should be, or (more likely), it's placed higher on the jersey, leaving a lot of dead space underneath it, thus, accentuating how big his jersey looks.

Whatever it was, it was genius. He literally looks like the human embodiment of a bear. Very much enhances his whole vibe.

 

In One More July, Bill Curry considered what made a football player great. A Colts teammate recalled that Butkus had really bad breath, so as formidable as he was, they agreed that halitosis was a good quality to start with.

Also, the first adult sports book I read was Instant Replay, so I knew much about the Packers dynasty. I didn't know until just now reading Nitchske's bio that I played on the same turf field where he played his last game at Tulane Stadium.

 

The way he played, it's a wonder he lived to 80.

 

Well, the Grim Reaper came 3 or 4 times earlier, but Butkus just snarled, and . . .

 

Shoulder pads were bigger and wider until the late Nineties, which created the image of massive upper body strength.

The forearm and elbow pads then in vogue (mainly to combat turf burn from the then newly introduced artificial turf, but also to facilitate the then common tactics of head slapping and stiff arm clothesline tackling) reinforced the visual image of the knight in combat armor.

The skintight cinched jersey styles which have taken over in the last 20-30 years (presumably to neutralize opposition holding) call attention to flabby guts and upper arms. Lots of guys look like steamed kielbasas in the skintight jerseys.

Players today work out more and are in much better shape than the guys of the 60s-90s but the uniforms have evolved to accentuate imperfections.

 

i knew he went to Illinois, didn't realize he spent his entire football career in the state, growing up in Chicago,playing at Chicago Vocational on the south side , which mainly was about training kids to work in blue-collar professions.

 

All of that is true, but Butkus looks bigger than his contemporaries too.

 

Honestly, if he played longer - his life likely would have been a lot shorter. Net worth of $18m, I bet he never made north of six figures with the Bears.

 

Well, 6-3 and 245 was pretty huge for a LB I the mid-Sixties; probably about comparable to 6-6, 285 or something like thst todsy.

 

Not just a great football player, but pretty good at polo as well.

RIP to an all-timer.

 

Out of curiosity, I looked up the 1965 draft. The Bears actually had three out of the first six picks, although there were just 14 teams in the pre-merger league.

They got Butkus at 3, Sayers at 4, and defensive end Steve DeLong, who signed with the Chargers instead and had a seven-year career there before finishing up with Chicago in ‘72.

I don’t feel like trying to look it up, but I’m curious how the Bears got three of the first six picks.

Butkus also went with the first pick in the second round (ninth overall) to the Broncos in the AFL draft.