More than 100 Bears fans joined Matt Butkus, son of Dick Butkus, to celebrate his father’s life and career at the Billy Goat Tavern on Sunday.
Dick Butkus died Oct. 5 in his sleep at 80 at his Malibu, California, home. Matt Butkus’ celebration at Navy Pier was the first public appearance of a family member since his father’s death.
“The fans showed up and made me feel good,” Matt Butkus said. “I know he was well loved.”
Butkus said his father always supported him, taking red-eye flights from New York City to make it to his football games in Los Angeles when Matt played for University of Southern California.
“He was always there. I always knew where he sat,” Butkus said.
Despite Dick Butkus’ reputation as the “Monster of the Midway,” his son said he didn’t bring that energy to parenting, even when Matt Butkus was playing football. If Matt Butkus asked for advice, his father would give it to him, but he also gave his son the freedom to learn.
“He wasn’t the overbearing dad. He let me figure it out,” Butkus said.
Fans of Dick Butkus joined the Team Butkus Foundation, a community started by Matt Butkus to honor his father, to tailgate before the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings game Sunday.
Martin Winkelman, 58, got emotional as he talked about Dick Butkus. Winkelman said he was a lifelong fan of Dick Butkus and continues to be a fan of the Bears. He’s only missed one Bears home game since 1990.
“Dick was a part of my life,” Winkelman said. “He lit my fuse for football.”
Winkelman said he had made chili for the Bears-Washington Commanders game Oct. 5 and was sitting down preparing to eat when he turned on the ESPN radio and heard Dick Butkus had died. He broke down, he said.
Winkelman has been a lifelong fan of Dick Butkus. So much so that he cut out a picture of the player from Sports Illustrated when he was a kid and has hung it in every bedroom he’s ever had, including the one he shares with his wife, he said chuckling.
“I don’t even have photos of my kids in my bedroom, but I have a photo of Dick Butkus,” Winkelman said.
Winkelman said he stills remembers the first time he saw Dick Butkus. He was a 5-year-old at the Woodfield shopping mall, when his mom thought he had gone missing. The whole store looked for him, he said.
When they found Winkelman, he was standing in front of a T.V. watching Dick Butkus.
“He was my hero,” Winkelman said.
Kellie Shanklin, 48, said Dick Butkus was fierce on the field but a family man off the field.
“He never forgot where he came from. He was humble, kind and hilarious,” she said.
Shanklin, who grew up in Chicago and has worked with the Butkus Foundation, knew him as a one-of-a-kind football player but was mainly a fan of him as a person. She said, despite his fame and reputation, he was down to earth.
“Anywhere we went he treated everyone equally,” she said. “My thoughts, prayers and condolences are with the family,” she said.
Jon Platakis, 76, agreed that Dick Butkus was different off the field.
“He was a shy, mild, gentle human being, which was completely different from when he was on the football field,” Platakis said.
Platakis founded the National Lithuanian American Hall of Fame and helped induct Dick Butkus in 2013. He said Butkus had a range of talents, pointing out his acting career.
Platakis said he was glad to show support to the Butkus family by being at the Team Butkus tailgate Sunday.
“Yes we mourned, but now we’re celebrating one of the greatest players in Chicago Bears history,” he said. “He is the embodiment of the Chicago Bears, barring nobody else.”
Jon Platakis was joined by his son, Phil Platakis, 37, who had painted the number 51 on his hair in orange.
Phil Platakis called Dick Butkus “a role model” and admired him for his “toughness” on the field, as well as his mentorship of younger players off the field, mentioning the player’s “I Play Clean Campaign.”
The campaign raised awareness of the dangers of steroid use among high school players.
When he was a kid, Blaine Oliver, 68, watched the Bears play on T.V. At the time, it was one of the only televised games he could catch in Evansville, Indiana.
“It’s kind of shocking to hear that one of your childhood heroes passed away. You still think of him in that way,” Oliver said of his intensity on the field, “like he’s almost invincible.”
When Oliver was 9 years old, he saw Dick Butkus get drafted to the Chicago Bears. In middle school, when Oliver started playing football, he chose to play the same position as Dick Butkus, middle linebacker, which he played for six years.
From the beginning of Butkus’ professional career, Oliver looked up to him, even naming his dog after him.
“He was just so ferocious,” Oliver said. “I don’t know if I ever had seen a player more intense than he was.”
Leaning over a bar table, Jerry Latherow, 71, was signing a poster with a condolence message for Butkus’ family.
“Nobody worked harder. His intensity was beyond anything you’ll see anyone else have,” Latherow said.
Latherow respected him on the field for his aggressive plays, but also respected him off the field, for his humility and modesty. Dick Butkus was never one to rub his fame in anyone’s face, he said.
“Here’s the guy that’s an incredible football player, but take off the uniform and he’s just a regular guy,” Latherow said.
Proceeds from Sunday’s event will support the Butkus Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at advancing health and wellness, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention — Illinois chapter.
More Team Butkus tailgates will be held at the Billy Goat Tavern, including during the Bears games against the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 22 and the Carolina Panthers on Nov. 9.
