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Urlacher headed into hall of fame Saturday - as in Mettawa mayor, Casey

Mettawa Mayor Casey Urlacher and his brother are running neck-and-neck when in comes to hall of fame inductions for their football play.

Urlacher will become part of the Lake Forest College Athletic Hall of Fame in a ceremony starting at 10 a.m. Saturday in Calvin Durand Hall on the middle campus. Urlacher, who played linebacker and fullback on the Foresters’ football team and graduated in 2003, will be one of four enshrined in this year’s hall-of-fame class.

After the LFC honor, Urlacher will pull even in hall-of-fame department with his linebacker brother, Brian, who retired from the Chicago Bears this year. Brian Urlacher was inducted into the University of New Mexico Hall of Fame in March, Lobos football spokesman Greg Archuleta said.

“He’s going to one up me again, because they (New Mexico) are going to retire his jersey in November,” Casey Urlacher jokingly said of his brother, also a Mettawa resident.

Brian Urlacher said Thursday he remembers how hard his brother worked in the weight room in an effort to improve his play, and considers the hall-of-fame honor to be well deserved. He said his brother wound up attending LFC after moving to Lake County to live with him.

“He got a degree at Lake Forest, which is very cool,” Brian Urlacher told the Daily Herald.

Casey Urlacher said one of his LFC career highlights occurred in 2002, when the football team defeated Wisconsin’s St. Norbert College to win the Midwest Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA playoffs for the first time in school history. After the 2002 season, Urlacher was selected by the American Football Coaches Association to play fullback with top seniors in the country in the Hula Bowl in Honolulu.

Former Mettawa Mayor Jess Ray said the hall of fame achievements are a credit to the Urlacher family’s work ethic. Ray supported Casey Urlacher in his election as mayor over Trustee Jeff Clark last April in the small town just east of Vernon Hills.

“Mettawa is fortunate to have another sports hall-of-famer in its midst,” Ray said.

Urlacher will join a list of Lake Forest College Athletic Hall of Fame members that includes swimmer Diana Nyad and Blackhawks team historian Bob Verdi, a longtime Chicago sports writer whose work appears occasionally in the Daily Herald. Urlacher said LFC Athletic Director Jackie Slaats informed him of the pending honor three or so months ago.

Brian Urlacher said he plans to attend Saturday’s induction ceremony. Casey Urlacher, who had stints with the Bears and the Arena Football League’s Chicago Rush and Nashville Kats, said a sister, other relatives and close friends also will join him.

Under the Lake Forest College Athletic Hall of Fame charter, a candidate cannot be elected until at least 10 years after graduation.

Twitter: @DHBobSusnjara

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