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Dick Butkus, Chicago Bears icon, dies at 80
CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago Bears and all-around NFL legend Dick Butkus has died, the team confirmed Thursday.
“The Butkus family confirms that football and entertainment legend Dick Butkus died peacefully in his sleep overnight at home in Malibu, California.
“The Butkus family is gathering with Dick’s wife Helen. They appreciate your prayers and support.
“Additional information will be provided when it is available.”
Richard Marvin Butkus, who played for the Bears from 1965 until 1973 and was an iconic representative of the team for generations, was 80 years old. Known as the “Maestro of Mayhem,” Butkus was Chicago through-and-through, starring on and off the field.
He died in his sleep overnight in Malibu, California.
Butkus was born Dec. 9, 1942, to a Lithuanian American family in the Fernwood neighborhood on Chicago’s Far South Side. He was the youngest of nine children.
Butkus’ website notes that he already knew he was going to be a professional football player by the time he was in fifth grade.
“I worked hard at becoming one, just like society says you should,” Butkus was quoted on its website. “It (society) said you had to be fierce. I was fierce. Tough. I was tough.”
Butkus became a star football player at Chicago Vocational High School, and at the University of Illinois – where he enrolled in 1961. By his junior year in 1963, he had already made 145 tackles and forced 10 fumbles, his website said.
He led the Fighting Illini to the Big Ten Championship that year – and they finished the season ranked third in the nation, his website said. The Illini beat Washington 17-7 in the Rose Bowl that year.
Butkus was unanimously named All-American in 1964 – playing both sides of the ball a center on offense and a linebacker on defense, his website said. He later had his University of Illinois jersey, No. 50, retired – and is only one of two players to have received such an honor there, his website said.
His impact was so great that the Dick Butkus Award is now annually given to the top college linebacker in the country.
Butkus was drafted into the NFL by the Bears in 1965 – wearing jersey No. 51. He had 11 solo tackles in his first game, his website reported.
/ Getty Images
Butkus was a top contender for NFL Rookie of the Year that year, but was edged out by his Bears teammate and fellow first-round draft pick Gale Sayers, his website noted.
Butkus’ website said the 6-foot 3-inch, 245-pound powerhouse “terrorized opposing ball carriers and quarterbacks. His mauling style of tackling was worthy of a grizzly bear.”
In his nine-year NFL career, his website said, Butkus recovered 27 fumbles and had 22 interceptions.
Butkus was quoted on his website that his fierceness on the field was a major factor in his success.
“When I went out on the field to warm up, I would manufacture things to make me mad,” he was quoted. “If someone on the other team was laughing, I’d pretend he was laughing at me or the Bears. It always worked for me.”
Injuries began to take a toll on Butkus’ knees by 1970, but he pressed on for three more years – with 117 tackles and 68 assists, three fumble recoveries, and four pass interceptions in 1971, his website said.
When he retired in 1973, Butkus had been named first-team All-NFL for six years, and had been in eight consecutive Pro Bowls, his website said.
Butkus was named the NFL’s 10th best player when the league celebrated 100 years.
After retiring from the NFL, Butkus veered into acting – appearing in a well-known series of Miller Lite ads in which he played “a gentlemanly tennis player who cheerfully debates the beer’s merits with fellow ex-NFL defensive star Bubba Smith,” his website said.
He was also in the movies “Necessary Roughness” and “Any Given Sunday,” and appeared in the TV shows “My Two Dads” and “Hang Time,” his website said.
Just last year, Butkus took over the Bears Twitter feed – posting a couple of videos where he recalled his most memorable moments on the field.
He said his favorite game in which he ever played was a game against the San Francisco 49ers at Wrigley Field – which the Bears shared with the Cubs before they moved to Soldier Field in 1971.
“It’s the day that Gale Sayers scored six touchdowns and did it all different kind of ways – and you know, I was on all the kicking teams except the kickoff team at that point, but you know, we busted him on a punt return. I don’t know if he had a kickoff return or not. But he had six,” Butkus said.
Butkus added that Coach George Halas went on to take Sayers out of the game and replace him with Jon Arnett. If that had not happened, Butkus said, Sayers could have scored seven or more touchdowns.
That game was played on Dec. 12, 1965. Sayers noted it was a rainy day, much like the Bears’ home opener this year.
Future Head Coach Mike Ditka was also on the field as a player for that game – a contemporary Chicago Tribune account notes that he took out 49ers defensive lineman Roland Lakes to help clear the way for the fourth of Sayers’ six touchdowns.
The contemporary Tribune also noted that Johnny Morris took out a 49ers left linebacker to help clear the way in that same play. You may remember Morris as an iconic Chicago sports broadcaster, and specifically as CBS 2 Chicago’s sports director from 1975 until 1992.
The Bears won that game 61-20.
A few years earlier in 2019, Butkus was honored with a 12-foot, 1,000-pound bronze statue outside Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois.
The Hall of Famer was there to accept the unveiling. He was unfiltered, honest and in typical Dick Butkus fashion, there was absolutely no fluff.
“I deserve it?” asked Butkus. “Maybe the kids today would say it, but it’s a very humbling deal and you wonder why, man? I did what I was supposed to do and sh*t, I had fun knocking the sh*t out of people.”
Butkus had attended the Bears’ regular season-opener against the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field on Sept. 10.
“Never one to mince words, Butkus had poked fun at the Lions two just days prior via social media after Detroit’s season-opening win over the Kansas City Chiefs,” Bryan DeArdo of CBS Sports wrote.
Bears Chairman George H. McCaskey released a statement Thursday calling Butkus “the ultimate Bear.”
“He was Chicago’s icon. He exuded what our great city is about and, not coincidentally, what George Halas looked for in a player: toughness, smarts, instincts, passion, and leadership,” McCaskey wrote. “He refused to accept anything les than the best from himself, or from his teammates.”
The NFL also honored Butkus Thursday evening.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell released this statement:
“Dick Butkus was a fierce and passionate competitor who helped define the linebacker position as one of the NFL’s all-time greats. Dick’s intuition, toughness and athleticism made him the model linebacker whose name will forever be linked to the position and the Chicago Bears.
“We also remember Dick as a long-time advocate for former players, and players at all levels of the game. The Dick Butkus Award and his foundation honored achievement on the field and service to the community among high school, college and NFL linebackers. Dick was a champion of clean sports as his ‘I Play Clean’ campaign helped raise awareness about the dangers of steroid use among high school athletes.
“We send our deepest condolences to the Butkus family, the Bears organization and the many fans and people he impacted throughout his life.”
Fighting Illini football Coach Bret Bielema noted that he got to meet Butkus – a childhood idol.
“I am saddened to learn of the passing of Dick Butkus, the greatest linebacker in football history.
“As the head coach of his alma mater that he loved, I had the great honor to meet Dick, one of my childhood idols, last September. He was an amazing person, as well as football player, and a loyal Illini.
“Dick embodied everything that Illinois football has represented in the past and what we look to represent into the future. His deep love for Illinois football will be honored and remembered forever.”
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Athletic Director Josh Whitman noted that he called Butkus a friend:
“The Greatest Living Illini has left us.
“Dick Butkus was a giant in a land of giants. In a game built on toughness and tenacity, he stood alone. One of the most imposing figures to ever wear a helmet, away from the field, Dick was self-effacing, humble, and generous. A cultural icon, Dick leaves a legacy on Americana that will never be forgotten.
“On a personal note, the friendship I formed with Dick is something I will always cherish. I am so grateful for the time I was blessed to spend with him and for the many moments that we shared. I will never forget how touched he was when I told him he was the inaugural member of the newly formed Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame, or how emotional he became in learning that we were building a statue in his honor. Nor will I forget dedicating that statue – on a brittle, windy, rainy day that was tailor-made for a ceremony celebrating the toughest man in football.
“We grieve for his loss. We take solace in the many wonderful gifts that Dick gave us, both on the gridiron and in the decades since he left it. On behalf of our entire Illini famILLy, we send our love and condolences to his wife, Helen, and the entire Butkus family, with a reminder that Dick Butkus may be gone, but his memory will live forever at the University of Illinois – a place that he permanently changed with his ferocious heart, his indomitable spirit, and his unshakable loyalty.
“Our University is better, our game is better, and our country is better, all because we were graced by the presence of one Dick Butkus.
“Rest well, my friend.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called Butkus a “legend.”
“We lost a legend today. Dick Butkus was a son of Chicago, who embodied the strength and the tenacity of his hometown with every snap he played on the gridiron. He was a true Monster of the Midway, but also an actor, a commentator and a statesman for all things representing our beloved blue and orange.
“My heart is with the Butkus family and everyone he impacted throughout a tremendous life and career. He was a giant of a player, and a man, and we will always remember his giant love and dedication to the City of Chicago.”
The Bears took on the Washington Commanders Thursday night. The game will undoubtedly become a tribute to one of the greatest ever to do it.
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North Carolina governor’s race rocked by CNN report on Mark Robinson’s alleged incendiary comments
Editor’s note: This story contains highly offensive language.
Washington — North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, posted a slew of incendiary, explicit and racist comments on a pornographic website more than a decade ago, according to a CNN investigation released Thursday that has shaken the state’s gubernatorial race.
The report focused on comments made by an account with the name “minisoldr” on a pornographic website called Nude Africa between 2008 and 2012. The account used the name “mark robinson” in its profile and a number of biographical details posted by the account line up with Robinson’s own history, according to CNN. The network reported that Robinson appeared to use the account name on other platforms over the years, including YouTube and Pinterest, and that the email address associated with the account belonged to Robinson.
On the Nude Africa forum, the user expressed a desire to “bring [slavery] back” and “buy a few” slaves, while identifying himself as a “black NAZI,” according to CNN.
“Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few,” the account wrote in a discussion about Black Republicans in 2010, according to CNN.
“I like watching tranny on girl porn!” the minisoldr account also posted on Nude Africa, according to CNN. “That’s f****** hot! It takes the man out while leaving the man in! And yeah I’m a ‘perv’ too!”
In March 2012, minisoldr posted a preference for Hitler over former President Barack Obama’s administration: “I’d take Hitler over any of the s*** that’s in Washington right now!”
Minisoldr also used racist language to vilify civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr.
“I’m not in the KKK. They don’t let blacks join. If I was in the KKK I would have called him Martin Lucifer Koon!” the account posted in October 2011, according to CNN.
Reports emerged earlier Thursday that CNN was planning to publish a damaging story that could lead other Republicans to call on Robinson to drop out of the race. In a video posted to X before the CNN story was published, Robinson flatly denied that he said anything in the CNN report and insisted he won’t drop out. North Carolina will begin mailing ballots to members of the military and voters outside the U.S. on Friday.
“The things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” Robinson said in his video. “You know my words, you know my character and you know that I have been completely transparent in this race and before.”
Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Robinson echoed those comments in an interview with CNN. “This is not us. These are not our words. And this is not anything that is characteristic of me,” Robinson said, adding that he wouldn’t “get into the minutia of how somebody manufactured this, these salacious tabloid lies” when presented with evidence that the account belonged to him.
Robinson, who is 56 and married with two children, has a history of inflammatory remarks that have widely circulated since he won the state’s Republican primary in March. Serving as North Carolina’s lieutenant governor since 2021, he gained prominence in Republican circles after he delivered a pro-gun rights speech that went viral and kickstarted his political career. He’s made inflammatory comments across a number of topics — from Islam to abortion to feminism — but he’s been especially vocal on LGBTQ+ issues.
If elected, Robinson would become the first Black governor of North Carolina. Former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Robinson for governor, has referred to him as “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
The lieutenant governor blamed the CNN report on his Democratic opponent, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein.
“You all have seen the half truths and outright lies of Josh Stein,” Robinson said, claiming that Stein leaked the story to CNN.
The report’s release has spurred concern among Republicans about their nominee’s prospects in the coming election. Sen. Ted Budd, a North Carolina Republican, told reporters ahead of its release on Thursday that “North Carolinian voters are smart, and they know how to pick each and every candidate based on their own merits.”
When asked whether Robinson should step down, Budd said he didn’t have enough information.
“They’ve been assaulting him for years,” Budd said before the article was published. “We’re going to gather our facts through the weekend.”
contributed to this report.
Certain boxes of waffles sold at Costco Wholesale stores in the Midwest are being recalled because they may contain plastic, according to a notice by supplier Kodiak Cakes.
The recall involves Kodiak Power Waffles Buttermilk & Vanilla 40 count with the UPC code 705599019203 and a use-by date of Jan. 10, 2026, and only impacts products with the lot code 24193-WL4 and a time stamp of 12:00-23:00, according to the Park City, Utah-based company.
The recalled products were sold at Costco warehouses in 13 states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
The action was initiated “due to the potential presence of soft plastic film,” according to Kodiak, which noted that no injuries or illnesses had been reported.
Those who purchased the recalled product can return it to their local Costco for a refund.
People with questions can email Kodiak at: flapjacks@kodiakcakes.com or call 801-328-4067. Messages will be returned between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Mountain time, Monday through Friday.
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