In 1986, when the Super Bowl champions the Chicago Bears sold out Wembley Stadium, Britain’s favourite players were the silky smooth runner Walter “Sweetness” Payton and the lovable lineman William “the Refrigerator” Perry. But that belied the American football team’s historical identity, born in the 30s when Bronko Nagurski led the feared “Monsters of the Midway”. And no Bear was more of a monster than Dick Butkus, who has died aged 80.
In 2009 the NFL proclaimed Butkus the most feared tackler of all-time. “Tackling wasn’t good enough ... Dick loved to crush people,” said his teammate Ed O’Bradovich. Deacon Jones, a Hall of Fame defender for the Los Angeles Rams, called Butkus “a well-conditioned animal. A stone maniac. Every time he hit you he tried to put you in the cemetery, not the hospital.” Steve Sabol, with typical NFL Films hyperbole, described Butkus as his favourite player. “His career was the most sustained work of devastation ever committed, anywhere ... he mauled and tore ball-carriers apart.”
