Monday, July 14, 2008 11:09 PM CDT
Butkus discusses playing days at Wrigley and steroids
By MIKE MONAHAN, Staff Writer
mmonahan@jg-tc.com
CHICAGO -- One of the most feared linebackers in the history of professional football, Dick Butkus is speaking out against steroid usage.
“Steroids are bad news,” said Butkus from the Chicago Cubs dugout Saturday where he threw out the first pitch and sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch.. “Last year I started a program called “I Play Clean.” This where Old Spice stepped in.”
Butkus initiated the nationwide campaign to help eliminate anabolic steroid use by high school athletes, and this year Old Spice is a partner and is to distribute 10,000 informational packets to 10,000 different high schools across the United States.
“Old Spice has the Red Zone high school awards and they are sending out education kits to 71 percent of the high schools in the United States,” said Butkus. “Eighty-four percent of high school students have not been able to look for any information concerning the dangers of steroids.”
Butkus, an eight-time all-pro selection who played for the Chicago Bears from 1965-1973 and finished with 1,020 tackles, 22 interceptions and 27 fumble recoveries and led the Bears in tackles, interceptions, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries in his rookie season, said he gets back to Chicago about once a month.
“Now that we have the Butkus Awards here I will probably be coming more,” said Butkus, the unanimous all-American at Illinois in 1963 and 1964. “We have something unique there in that we will be honoring a high school linebacker each year around the country and also a pro player.”
The Butkus award, begun in 1985, is given annually to the top linebacker in college football. The award had been presented by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, Fla., until Butkus won a lawsuit in April saying the club didn’t raise enough money for charity. Starting in January of 2009 the award is to be presented by the Butkus family. Now the award can be used for charitable purposes, including spreading the “I Play Clean” message.
Butkus, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 is one of only two players (Harold ‘Red’ Grange is the other player) to have a uniform number retired by the University of Illinois (No. 51).
“I Play Clean” is also run by Matt Butkus, Butkus’ son, and its mission is to “educate and encourage high school students to make the right choice of playing clean — that is, training hard, eating well and playing with attitude, instead of resorting to illegal and dangerous steroids and performance enhancing products (from www.iplayclean.org Web site).”
The www.iplayclean.org Web site features a letter to parents and a pledge to play clean.
“The Web site is for parents, coaches, teachers and kids that we want to come to and take the pledge and spread the word,” said Butkus.
Butkus, who spoke to more than 200 students at Soldier Field rally Friday, never had a salary of more than $102,000.
From 1965-1970 Butkus and the Bears played at Wrigley Field. In fac,t the Bears played there from 1921-1970, and Wrigley Field once held the title for the most NFL games played in a single stadium. The 50 seasons the Bears spent at Wrigley were an NFL record until 2006 when the Green Bay Packers tied it and broke it in 2007 at Lambeau Field.
“This was my favorite place to play,” said Butkus of Wrigley Field. “With the east stands and the people so close to you that you really felt the crowd.”
The field ran north to south from the left field to the foul side of first base. The capacity was 38,000 and the visiting baseball teams’ dugout (first base side) was in the corner of the south end zone, which required a special ground rule that sliced off that corner of the end zone. The dugout was filled with pads for safety. One corner of the north end line ran just inches short of the left field wall.
“The definition of a pro is you can play anywhere, the prairie, anywhere. This field was kind of an awkward configuration because the end zone was 2-by-4s across the dugout and the slope of the field. We practiced here. They had to paint the dirt green because there was no grass. To me that is the sign of a real pro. Whereas now they don’t get dirty and everything is perfect. I don’t know about that, I like the old days.”
Contact Mike Monahan at mmonahan@jg-tc.com or 238-6854.
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Illiniois Alum wrote on Jul 15, 2008 7:03 PM:
Mr. Butkus' uniform number when he played professional football in Chicago was No. 51. His retired uniform number at Illinois is No. 50. See: http://fightingillini.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/FBHist-RetiredNumbers.html "