Illini Football - Dick Butkus
1962-64
Linebacker/Center
Number retired Sept. 20, 1986
Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame member
Statue announced Nov. 20, 2017
Born: December 9, 1942
Died: October 5, 2023
Dick Butkus remains the standard to which all linebackers are compared. He played two All-America seasons in 1963 and 1964 before enjoying a Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears, where he was a six-time All-Pro selection. Butkus finished third in the 1964 Heisman Trophy voting and has college football’s annual award for the outstanding collegiate linebacker named after him. He had his jersey, No. 50, retired at Illinois in 1986, joining Red Grange as the only two Illinois football players to have their numbers retired. Butkus helped lead the Fighting Illini to a 1964 Rose Bowl victory over Washington. He earned first-team All-Big Ten honors twice and was awarded the 1963 Silver Football Award as the Big Ten’s Most Valuable Player. Butkus finished his career with 374 tackles. His 145 stops in 1963 stood as the school record until 1976. He was named the 1964 Player of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.
Butkus was named to the Big Ten Diamond Anniversary Team in 1970, The Sporting News College Coaches All-Time Team, the Walter Camp All-Century Team and the University of Illinois All-Century Team. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979 and to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983. In 2010 he was named the No. 6 Big Ten Icon in the history of the conference by the Big Ten Network.
Butkus was announced as the first member of the inaugural class of the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 27, 2016.
• “All I ever wanted to do was to play football. It was a human factor that got me to come here to Illinois. I’m very proud to be a former Illini. I’ll always be an Illini.”
— Dick Butkus
• “If every college football team had a linebacker like Dick Butkus of Illinois, all fullbacks would soon be three feet tall and sing soprano.”
— Dan Jenkins, Sports Illustrated
• “Butkus didn’t have bad games, just varying degrees of excellence.”
— Bert Bertine, former Sports Editor, Champaign Urbana Courier
• “All the greats have the natural physical talent. Dick was so strong and agile and possessed great quickness. His biggest attributes, however, were his instincts and his desire. No one wanted to play the game of football as much as Dick Butkus. He is the finest football player I have ever coached.”
— Pete Elliott, former UI coach
• “Dick would not only tackle you, he would consume you. He never missed a tackle and you knew that anytime you ran the ball that Butkus would be in on the tackle.”
— Paul Hornung, Hall of Famer
• “What do I respect most about him? His guts . . . they put it to him hard and?right away he comes back at them with a big play.”
— Don Hansen, former UI teammate
• “He is a legend. I never thought any player could play as well as writers write that he can, but Butkus came as close as any player I’ve seen.”
— Tommy Prothro, former UCLA coach
• “Dick Butkus remains the standard for defensive players to strive for.”
— George Halas, former UI player and longtime owner and coach of the Chicago Bears
• “Our game plans were always to run at Illinois tackles … and AWAY from Butkus.”
— Bump Elliott, former Michigan coach
