He was a tough player and Coach! He was old school.
He was bad to the bone on the playing field, decent human off the field. RIP.
Interested enough to comment....
Had to find out who it was.
A person who actually faced off against him had this to say to me, something like:
The guy was brutal crazy! His eyes swirled in opposite directions, he knawed his tongue, spit, cursed, pointed, was just brutal. Psyched people out without even hitting them. Hit harder than anything on the field. Hated when we faced him.
The guy was brutal crazy! His eyes swirled in opposite directions, he knawed his tongue, spit, cursed, pointed, was just brutal. Psyched people out without even hitting them. Hit harder than anything on the field. Hated when we faced him.
There was another guy that played for the Bears about the same time as Butkus and his name was Doug Atkins, 6'8 defensive end. He was another character, used to go to dive biker bars and get into fights after practice during the week just for fun. Different breed of cats back then no doubt.
He was overshadowed by Butkus no doubt. Long armed dude.
That defensive unit was full of bad dudes but Butkus definitely stood out. Ed O'Bradovich was another one.
It was said Butkus sometimes cut himself and spread his own blood on his uniform to intimidate.
I watched a documentary on him. In one instance, he came over to the sidelines with a thumb lying over on the back of his hand and told the trainer to tape it up. The trainer turned white as a sheet and told Butkus he couldn't play that way, he would ruin his thumb. Butkus grabbed his thumb and cracked it back jamming it back in place telling the trainer to "Tape two popsicle sticks on it, I'm going back in!"
I watched a documentary on him. In one instance, he came over to the sidelines with a thumb lying over on the back of his hand and told the trainer to tape it up. The trainer turned white as a sheet and told Butkus he couldn't play that way, he would ruin his thumb. Butkus grabbed his thumb and cracked it back jamming it back in place telling the trainer to "Tape two popsicle sticks on it, I'm going back in!"
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