O'Donnell: Jerry Vainisi - GM of the Super Bowl champion Bears - was 'a Halas guy' to the end

WHEN JERRY VAINISI WAS abruptly ousted as general manager of the Bears in 1987 - less than 14 months after the team's iconic victory in Super Bowl 20 - Mike Ditka cried.

Ditka viewed the facile Vainisi as a safe haven of coherent NFL thought. That was amid the evolving eccentricities that shredded the Bears front office after the resignation of Jim Finks in August 1983 and the death of George Halas two months later.

Vainisi - long estranged from the organization - died Tuesday at age 80.

The Bears announced his passing. He served as their GM from 1983-87.

The former Arlington Heights resident spent the final quarter century of his life as the chairman and owner of the West suburban Forest Park Bank.

IN AUGUST 2021, in one of his final interviews, Vainisi spoke with the Daily Herald about his career and the possibility of the Bears moving to Arlington Park:

"I didn't realize I had a bull's-eye on my back from the night George Halas died. I was considered a 'Halas guy' by the McCaskey family and they wanted 'McCaskey thought' to prevail. So Ed and Michael fired me."

The firing came after a 14-2 season in 1986. The Bears' defense of their Super Bowl 20 title came to a quick end in the NFC divisional round when Ditka elected to start Doug Flutie at quarterback and the team blew a 13-7 halftime lead. They lost to visiting Washington, 27-13.

The McCaskeys used that defeat as pretext to poleax Vainisi.

The Bears didn't have another GM until June 2001. That was when current president & CEO Ted Phillips - a Vainisi hire as controller in the fall of 1983 - brought Jerry Angelo into one of the most consistently haunted positions in Chicago sports.

VAINISI WAS HIRED by Halas himself from the accounting firm Arthur Andersen on Oct. 1, 1972. He was tasked with upgrading a spartan business department.

In 1975, he was a primary Halas family adviser when the Bears initiated their first public pass at building a stadium on the grounds of Arlington Park.

He told The Daily Herald: "The full truth is, Halas never wanted to leave Chicago. He did want leverage with the city of Chicago to get some things done."

After months of news conferences and stadium visuals by architects, any deal was gone with the wind.

With Vainisi managing the details, the Bears signed a new lease to stay at Soldier Field through 1999. A subsequent renewal ties the team to the lakefront stadium through 2032, although the Bears can buy their way out of that contract,

IN THE 2021 INTERVIEW, Vainisi voiced significant reservations about the ability of Phillips and George McCaskey alone to get the current initiative by the Bears to redevelop Arlington Park done:

"I would hope there has been explicit understanding months ago that (minority partner) Pat Ryan has to be the lead negotiator on all of this. Unless they have significantly matured in some compartments, Ted and George just can't get this done by themselves."

Vainisi also said that a primary reason for all of the swerving of "The McCaskey Era" began with a family misperception about the capabilities of the late Michael McCaskey.

"He had a great academic background but in the outside world, he was a consultant, not a businessman. Businessmen pull triggers and live with their decisions. Consultants get hired and then come in with enough 'what-ifs' to cover themselves no matter what happens. Then they move on to the next client."

ALTHOUGH A NATIVE OF CHICAGO, Vainisi's up-close love of the NFL began in Green Bay. That's where his older brother Jack was a scout and personnel staffer at the start of the Vince Lombardi reign.

But Jack Vainisi died of a heart attack at age 33 in 1960.

The younger brother went on to earn a degree in accounting at Georgetown followed by a degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

During his run in the sun with the Ditka Bears, Vainisi was a gentleman of consistently appropriate straightforwardness with media. He never lied or ducked, although he sometimes politely deflected.

He is survived by good friend Doris L. Vainisi, five children and 14 grandchildren.

WHEN ASKED TO SUM UP his life and times last year, Vainisi said:

"I was in a dream job, an absolute dream job. A hometown kid, an accountant with a law degree who loved the NFL, getting to grow up and become an executive vice president and general manager of the Chicago Bears. And then winning the Super Bowl alongside Mike and so many other great people and players.

"And then one day it suddenly ended. I moved on to the Lions and the NFL Europe and then became sole owner of the bank. But what a time it was.

"And if to the end I am to be perceived as 'a Halas guy,' what an honorable designation."

• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Sunday, Thursday and other select occasions. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.