Fans find Bulls trophies on display in Lisle 'mesmerizing'
The Chicago Bulls' six NBA Championship trophies don't get out much.
But Friday, they showed up at the Bulls/Sox Academy in Lisle where die-hard fans starved for some real NBA action oohed and aahed in their bright, gold presence.
Fans could read the trophies' inscriptions and pose for photos, but touching the championship awards wasn't allowed.
“Just to be around them is mesmerizing,” said Anthony Atkins, a Darien resident who fondly recalled the shot Michael Jordan hit to win the title against the Utah Jazz in the 1998 NBA finals as his favorite Bulls championship memory.
Atkins' friend, Chris Askew of Westmont, was a bit disappointed by the “hands off the trophies” rule.
“I wanted to touch them and hold them over my head,” Atkins said.
Instead, fans settled for posing behind the trophies with their families or snapping solo shots with their arms outstretched across the table.
Friday's event in Lisle was the fourth stop on the Bulls' first trophy tour — and the first in the suburbs. It also is the only stop on the trophy tour to display the White Sox 2005 World Series trophy.
Bulls officials expected about 200 people to file through the academy and see the trophies.
Other chances to see the team's awards from championships in 1991, ‘92, ‘93, ‘96, ‘97 and ‘98 are planned for Dec. 3 in Northbrook and Dec. 12 in Niles, said Jeff Schultz, the Bulls' manager of community relations.
“There was never an opportunity to have all six trophies out,” Schultz said. “We just want to give back and give fans the opportunity.”
Some fans Friday said they had seen one trophy before, or glanced at all six in the specially built case on the south side of the United Center that's held them for the past year.
But viewing all six awards without a glass barrier was a treat — not to mention a better story to tell than tales of holiday shopping conquests, said Lauren Kropke of Tinley Park.
“It was pretty cool. It's something I'll get to tell everyone, ‘Hey, guess what we did instead of Black Friday shopping?”' she said.
From Kendall County to the Wisconsin border and plenty of suburbs in between, some Bulls fans made quite the drive to pose with their team's hardware.
For Mary Kueppers of Lindenhurst and her 11-year-old daughter Alyssa, seeing the prize they hope their favorite Bull — point guard Derrick Rose — can win some day was worth the trek.
“It was cool to read them and get up close,” Kueppers said after seeing the trophies. “It was a really nice idea for them to do (the trophy tour) to keep people's mind's on basketball.”