The late American football linebacker, sports commentator, and actor Richard Marvin Butkus played football for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League from 1965 to 1973, has died.
Dick Butkus dies aged 80: Obituary
Dick Butkus was born in Chicago, the youngest of eight children, but the first to be born in a hospital. His father John, a Lithuanian immigrant to Ellis Island who spoke broken English, was an electrician and worked for the Pullman-Standard railroad car manufacturing company. His mother, Emma, worked 50 hours a week at a laundry. Butkus grew up in the Roseland neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side.
Dick Butkus played high school football as a fullback, linebacker, punter, and placekicker for coach Bernie O’Brien at Chicago Vocational High School. In 1959, he was the first junior to be honored by the Chicago Sun-Times as Chicago’s high school player of the year.
Dick Butkus chose to attend the University of Illinois and played center and linebacker from 1962 through 1964 for the Illinois Fighting Illini football team.
Butkus is survived by his wife Helen Essenberg whom he married in 1963 while they were students at the University of Illinois, and his three children: Ricky, Matt, and Nikki.
Dick Butkus dies aged 80: cause of death
Dick Butkus died at the age of 80 in his sleep at his home in Malibu, California, on October 5, 2023, and is considered a natural cause.
Dick Butkus dies aged 80: funeral arrangements
Dick Butkus’s funeral will be held soon and we will bring you an update on the arrangements.
Source: Ghanafuo.com
