OT: RIP Dick Butkus

[SouthJerseyRU]

 

[MadRU]

Wow, best middle linebacker I ever saw. People feared him.

RIP

 

[bethlehemfan]

A true monster of the midway. RIP.

 

[ashokan]

I only saw a little bit of him in his last season and he was pretty gimpy.
His first season the Bears were 9-5.
After that they had a couple of seasons around 500 and the rest were pretty bad.
For a team with Butkus and Gale Sayers, I always wondered why Bears were so bad.
Alas the Bears were always cheap so the rest of the team were probably scrubs

 

[e5fdny]

He is #51

 

[shields]

RIP. Saw Brian's Song again recently, amazing with two great players the Bears were bad.

 

[MADHAT1]

a true legend
RIP

 

[RU4Real]

I just spent 5 minutes convincing Kid3 (27 y/o) that he was real.

I assured her of his utter domination during his career. Never saw anything like it. He was so good.

 

[RutHut_rivals]

Most of his hits would be illegal today.

RIP.

 

[Shelby65]

Different game back then. Amazing every player in that era didn’t get CTE.

RIP 51.

 

[wisr01]

Never played in a playoff game...shame

 

[Bill 86]

Never played in a playoff game...shame

Did win the Rose Bowl though...1964

 

[RUhasarrived]

The Bears got him in the first round along with Sayers in 1965.
The Giants took Tucker Fredrickson with the 1st pick.

 

[Kbee3]

Wow, best middle linebacker I ever saw. People feared him.

RIP

So true.
Ray Nitschke #2.

 

[e5fdny]

The Bears got him in the first round along with Sayers in 1965.
The Giants took Tucker Fredrickson with the 1st pick.

Was he Gale Sayers? Obviously not.

But until he got hurt, he was pretty good.

 

[RULoyal]

Back in the late 90's I worked with an older guy who played O line for Georgia and spent 5 minutes of the NFL preseason with the Jets in the early 70's. The story he told was the Jets played the Bears in a preseason game that year and he was supposed to get some time and Butkus was not supposed to play. My co-worker gets in for a few plays and lo and behold Mr. Butkus decides to get some reps. My coworker remembered number 51 in his grill and the next thing he remembered was being on his back looking at the sky. He did not last long after that. He did have some interesting stories about Jet parties he attended.

 

[mdk02]

The Bears got him in the first round along with Sayers in 1965.
The Giants took Tucker Fredrickson with the 1st pick.

Frederickson had 2 major knee surgeries even earlier than Sayers.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

So true.
Ray Nitschke #2.

Both Illini! Some legendary players have passed through Illinois for how bad the program has been in modern times.

RIP, legend!

 

[Joey Bags]

RIP, one of the OG First Team, All-Name players

 

[mdk02]

Both Illini! Some legendary players have passed through Illinois for how bad the program has been in modern times.

RIP, legend!

I believe Sayers went to Kansas

 

[Kbee3]

I believe Sayers went to Kansas

He meant Nitschke.

 

[tico brown]

The Bears got him in the first round along with Sayers in 1965.
The Giants took Tucker Fredrickson with the 1st pick.

Of course the Giants did, even back then

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

RIP Dick Butkus. Did a book report of this in grade school... still not my favorite LB of all-time.. Not Nitschke, not even LT... a Jersey Shore guy, a Bowling Green player got the nod.. any guesses?

 

[Source]

Saturday Night Live: You're My Ditka!

 

[Kbee3]

RIP Dick Butkus. Did a book report of this in grade school... still not my favorite LB of all-time.. Not Nitske, not even LT... a Villanova player got the nod.. any guesses?

If you are talking LB, not MLB my favorite will always be Lawrence Taylor.
The best football player I've ever seen.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

If you are talking LB, not MLB my favorite will always be Lawrence Taylor.
The best football player I've ever seen.

He did change the game.. but he was really more of a DE basically rushing teh QB every down

 

[rudad02]

Butkus was some tough monkey. RIP Dick.

 

[e5fdny]

RIP Dick Butkus. Did a book report of this in grade school... still not my favorite LB of all-time.. Not Nitschke, not even LT... a Jersey Shore guy, a Bowling Green player got the nod.. any guesses?

The only thing I wasn’t sure on was Bowling Green.

Green Wave born; Spartan played. Raider and Super Bowl champ.

 

[RULoyal]

The only thing I wasn’t sure on was Bowling Green.

Green Wave guy. Raider and Super Bowl champ.

Same here. I see Villanova has been updated to Bowling Green. Villanova - close to his last name.

 

[CollegeSenior]

RIP Dick Butkus. Did a book report of this in grade school... still not my favorite LB of all-time.. Not Nitschke, not even LT... a Jersey Shore guy, a Bowling Green player got the nod.. any guesses?

Phil Villapiano. I went to HS with his cousin.

 

[ashokan]

"Giants GM George Young predicted before the draft that he would be better than NFL legends such as Dick Butkus: "Taylor is the best college linebacker I've ever seen. Sure, I saw Dick Butkus play. There's no doubt in my mind about Taylor. He's bigger and stronger than Butkus was. On the blitz, he's devastating."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Taylor

Taylor originally wanted to play for Dallas. He took #56 because he was a Hollywood Henderson fan

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Same here. I see Villanova has been updated to Bowling Green. Villanova - close to his last name.

yeah.. I goofed.. caught myself.. just loved the way he played... covered so much ground.