It’s a love story, da coach Ditka style.
And a Bears story coming full circle.
During the years I’ve interviewed legendary Bears coach Mike Ditka, I have never heard him choke up.
Gruff, puff, and sometimes Trump stuff; conversation with “coach” always ends with a little Mike magic.
That is, until his friend, former Bears General Manager Jerry Vainisi — his ultimate teammate — died this past week.
“We were close, he was a great man,” said Ditka, mourning the loss of a best friend who helped him and Bears personnel director Bill Tobin cobble together the team that won the 1985 Super Bowl. “When I learned Jerry had died, I cried.”
“Jerry had a brilliant mind ... we were as thick as thieves when I was coach,” said Ditka. “He was the reason for my career. It was wonderful watching him work and working with him to create a great team.”
Then, in January 1987, shortly after the end of the 1986 football season, Bears president Michael McCaskey fired Vainisi, the man who Ditka’s claims miraculously oversaw contract negotiations creating the franchise’s Super Bowl squad.
McCaskey cited a “difference in approach and philosophy.”
Ditka still feels the pain of that decision.
“Jerry was as important as anyone when we won the Super Bowl,” said Ditka. “He put the whole thing together. … We all get credit for things, but Jerry really deserved it. Really. He picked the people we needed for the 1985 Super Bowl team and not just the people others thought we should pick,” he added.
Ditka specifically singled out the selection of quarterback Jim McMahon for the 1985 iconic team as an example of an extraordinary squad choice.
In football lingo, McMahon did more than shuffle on down.
McMahon “hung in there to do the things we needed,” added Ditka.” He was amazing. A terrific pick for an amazing team. A quiet man. If something had to be done, he would do it. Halas knew that. Once I started working with Jerry, I saw what [legendary Bears GM George] Halas saw.
“Jerry was hired by Halas and I was hired by Mr. Halas. We had those two great things in common,” he said. “He was the kind of guy who stayed on track.
“If George Halas were still alive, I knew he’d say the same thing.”
The adulation ended when McCaskey fired Vainisi for accepting Ditka’s advice to acquire Doug Flutie, the starting quarterback in the Bears’ 27-13 divisional playoff loss to the Washington Redskins at Soldier Field less than a year after their Super Bowl victory.
Vainisi, who was also one of the people responsible for the 1985 removal of the Chicago Honey Bears cheerleaders, was gone, the last general manager for the Bears until 2001.
“I didn’t like it when Jerry was fired,” he said. “I thought it was a mistake. But I understood it,” said Ditka. “There was no place for loyalty back then.
“The man who had hired Jerry was now dead. The man who had hired me was now dead. The Bears were putting new people in place … and despite a recent Super Bowl win, the team didn’t like a loss. The team had to win. It was a new organization.”
“Unfortunately, they had new people in the Bears organization who had their heads up their a—.”
The youngest of four children born into a family who owned a deli near Wrigley Field, Vainisi went on to work for the Detroit Lions; the World League of Football; headed the sports entertainment division of a Chicago law firm Hinshaw and Culbertson before he retired In 1995. In 2010, he was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame.
“I saw him a few months ago,” added Ditka.
“The Bears were a big part of my life — and he is such a loss.”
The family is hosting two visitations: Thursday, Oct. 13, from 3-8 p.m. at Woodlawn Funeral Home, 7750 West Cermak Road, Forest Park, and Friday, Oct. 14, from 9 a.m. to the 10:30 a.m. mass at Old St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, 700 West Adams Street, Chicago. Interment is private.
In lieu of flowers, please treat someone you love to dinner.
For information contact Woodlawn Funeral Home, 708-442-8500 or www.WoodlawnChicago.com.
Dear Mary Alice…
Condolences to the family of an adored family matriarch, Mary Alice Houlihan, widow of former State Rep. Dan Houlihan, who considered every one of her six children, 15 grandchildren and tribe of nieces and nephews her favorite. Her family was her joy, every one of their milestones a celebration, every hurdle an accepted challenge. And the children of Misericordia were on her special love list. This twin, born two hours after her brother on Christmas Day, didn’t waste a moment of 82 years of life with her extended family. It was an honor to watch her work her magic, an honor to be her friend.
Sneedlings…
Stork talk: Now comes word mayoral hopeful Paul Vallas has become a first-time grandfather welcoming Konstantinos Vallas into the world. “I’m finally a Papou,” he tells Sneed. Congrats! ... Auction maven Leslie Hindman — chairman emeritus of Hindman — and Hindman CEO Jay Krehbiel, celebrated bringing down the hammer 40 years ago Friday at a private soiree toasting what has become an auction empire. … The running out of names game? Hilaria Baldwin, wife of actor you-know-who Baldwin, just named the couple’s seventh child “Ilaria.” Isn’t that hilarious? ... Saturday birthdays: singer Bruno Mars, 37; actor Matt Damon, 52 and Rev. Jesse Jackson, 81. ... Sunday birthdays: actor Tyler James Williams, 34; former British Prime Minister David Cameron, 56, and author Sharon Osbourne, 70.
