O'Donnell: Any 'street' farewell to Butkus must include that he deserved an NFL title
PRIME-POUNCE DICK BUTKUS playing for head coach George Allen could have forever changed the trajectory of the Chicago Bears.
In the spring of 1983, Allen had been dusted from the NFL and was coaching the first-year Chicago Blitz of the United States Football League. He and wife Etty lived in a seasonal rental at Twelve Oaks in Rolling Meadows.
The springtime USFL had some wealthy owners and an impressive network TV contract with ABC. More than 40 Blitz players and coaches resided at Twelve Oaks.
After a media luncheon at Doug Buffone's Sweetwater in Chicago, Allen was asked about Butkus.
"No one I ever coached or coached against deserved more to be an NFL champion than Dick Butkus," Allen said. "'Middle linebacker' was once nothing more than a concept. Butkus turned it into a reliable weapon. The fact that he was constantly caught up in so much turmoil and defeat in Chicago is one of the great injustices in the history of the National Football League."
ALLEN ONCE HAD BEEN the fresh prince of the Bears and heir apparent to George Halas. He joined the organization in 1958. By 1963, as defensive coordinator, Allen was given primary credit by almost all players - over Halas - for squeezing them to an NFL championship.
Less than a year later - November 28, 1964 - as DC and director of player personnel, Allen engineered their remarkable 1965 draft.
On that Hall of Fame day, the Bears selected Butkus of Illinois (No. 3 overall) and Gale Sayers of Kansas (No. 4 and amazingly, the third running back taken). Both later signed, passing over the free-spending American Football League.
FOLLOWING A REBOUND 9-5 in 1965 - his only season coaching Butkus - Allen got tired of waiting on Halas to step aside. After a well-publicized court skirmish over what Halas termed "the sanctity of contracts," he bolted to lead the Los Angeles Rams.
In his wake, he left a grand question about that era of struggling Bears:
With Allen prompting a future-is-now tone and a full-strength Butkus at middle linebacker, how competitive would the Monsters have been for the next decade?
IN THAT SPAN (1966-75), ALLEN CRAFTED a 97-38-5 mark as HC with the Rams and Washington. He made it to Super Bowl VII and two more NFC championship games.
The Bears in the same years - under Halas, Jim Dooley, Abe Gibron and Jack Pardee - were 47-89-4. The NFL postseason was never anything more than a rumor. Pardee, an Allen disciple, ended that Chicago fire in 1977.
After Allen's departure, Butkus played on only one winning team - 7-6-1 in 1967.
In an astonishing acknowledgment of his extraordinary impact, Butkus was voted NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1969 off a stuffable crew that finished 1-13.
BY 1974, BUTKUS AND HIS BATTERED KNEES were finished. Still, Allen - forever stitching together Over-The-Hill Gangs in Washington - convinced him to secretly see a preferred orthopedic surgeon in Oklahoma City about playing some more.
The doctor's verdict: "The man is lucky he can still walk without a cane."
Halas showed his eternal gratitude by making Butkus chase compensation for medical costs. He sued "The Papa Bear" for $1.6 million and settled for $600,000.
Their ensuing estrangement is said to have lasted five years. Butkus felt betrayed by a lot of things as a Chicago Bear. Almost all of them revolved around the miserly ways of George Stanley Halas.
AFTER HALAS DIED IN 1983, a full reconciliation with the team happened because of WGN-AM (720) and programming chief Dan Fabian.
The once-fabled Tribune Company outlet reacquired the team's play-by-play rights over incumbent WBBM-AM (780) in time for the magical 1985 Super Bowl XX campaign.
Fabian wanted a three-man booth - game caller, analyst and "fan surrogate."
WAYNE LARRIVEE CAME IN from Kansas City as the first seater. Jim Hart - the former Cardinals QB - was the surprise pick for the color slot.
And the fan surrogate?
Rip-snorting No. 51 himself - Dick Butkus.
He played the audio role with proper passion. He would never rival William F. Buckley Jr. for wordiness. Sometimes his remarks were nothing more than punctuating grunts. But at least they were genuine Chicago Bear great grunts.
IN HIS LONG ACTING CAREER, Butkus landed a lot of roles. He didn't touch Daniel Day-Lewis - much closer to Brian Bosworth.
But from casting call forward, he was always playing only one person and that was himself.
His image reflected much of the dibs grit of The City That Works. He could generate ferocious determination. "Gracious loser" was not in his Lithuanian-American vocabulary.
IT'D BE NICE TO THINK that his sudden passing at age 80 Thursday somehow inspired the new-gen Bears to their commanding 40-20 victory at Washington later that night.
It'd also be nice to think that there's no graft in the back channels of Illinois politics.
But here's a streets-and-san farewell: Dick Butkus really did deserve to be an NFL champion.
Anyone want to risk a South Side eye gouge to argue the other side?
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.