In Memoriam, 2011

OLLIE MATSON

     We Chicago sports fans lost some noteworthy performers this year. Heading the list were Chicago Cardinals Hall of Famer Ollie Matson, former Bears safety Dave Duerson, former White Sox skipper Chuck Tanner, former Northwestern and Bears receiver Jim Keane, and former Cubs pitcher Bob Rush.
     Blackhawks alumni Alexander Karpovtsev and Igor Korolev were among 44 people who perished when a plane carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team, of which the two were members, crashed upon takeoff near Yaroslavl, Russia, on September 7.

Below is a list of notable Chicago sports personalities who passed away in 2011:

Ricky Bell, 36, Bears defensive back 1997-1998 (February 17).

Dave Cole, 81, Cubs pitcher 1954 (October 26).

Wes Covington, 79, White Sox outfielder 1961, Cubs outfielder 1966 (July 4).

Dave Duerson, 50, Bears safety 1983-1989, four-time Pro Bowler, member of Super Bowl XX championship team (February 17).

Woodie Fryman, 70, Cubs pitcher 1978 (February 4).

Joe Gentile, 87, Chicagoland car dealer, alumnus of and donor to Loyola University, whose basketball arena is named for him (October 10).

Jesse Jefferson, 62, White Sox pitcher 1975-1976 (September 8).

Alexander Karpovtsev, 41, Blackhawks defenseman 2000-2004 (September 7).

Jim Keane, 87, Bears end 1946-1951, led NFL in pass receptions with 60 in 1947, played college ball at Northwestern (March 8).

Igor Korolev, 41, Blackhawks center 2001-2004 (September 7).

Ed Manning, 67, Bulls forward 1969-1970 (March 4).

Ollie Matson, 80, Chicago Cardinals kick returner and halfback 1952-1958, traded to Los Angeles Rams in 1959 for nine players, six-time Pro Bowler, inducted into Pro Football Hall of Fame 1972, previous to his football career won two medals at 1952 Summer Olympic Games (February 19).

Charlie Metro, 91, one of Cubs rotating managers in so-called “College of Coaches” era 1962 (March 18).

Tim McCaskey, 66, Bears vice president, second oldest of Ed and Virginia McCaskey’s 11 children (January 30).

Scotty Robertson, 81, Bulls head coach 1979 (August 18).

Bob Rush, 85, Cubs pitcher 1948-1957, White Sox pitcher 1960, two-time All-Star (March 19).

Johnny Schmitz, 90, Cubs pitcher 1941-1942 and 1946-1951, two-time All-Star, missed 1943-1945 seasons while serving in World War II (October 1).

Roy Smalley, 85, Cubs shortstop 1948-1953 (October 22).

Chuck Tanner, 81, Cubs outfielder 1957-1958; White Sox manager 1970-1975 (February 11).

Bob Will, 80, Cubs outfielder 1957-1958, 1960-1963 (August 11).

Gus Zernial, 87, White Sox outfielder 1949-1951, led American League in homers and RBIs in 1951 after being traded to Philadelphia Athletics early in the season (January 20).

Dave Duerson, 1950 - 2011

    

DAVE DUERSON

     When rookie safety Dave Duerson, a third-round draft pick out of Notre Dame, was informed that he had made the Bears' roster at the close of training camp in 1983, he did not receive the good news from defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan in quite the way that he'd imagined. He wasn't told, "Welcome aboard; we're glad to have you!" Instead, the crusty Ryan told him, "You better be good. I had to cut my best friend to make room for you." Ryan was referring to Doug Plank, the human missile whose uniform number had given the famed "46" defense its name.
     Duerson, who passed away last week at the age of 50, turned out to be pretty good. He played seven years for the Bears, the last five as a starter. He made the Pro Bowl in 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988. In 1986, he set a record for defensive backs by recording seven sacks. In 1987, he received the NFL's Man of the Year award, which goes to the player who best combines excellence on the field with a commitment to community service (the award was renamed for Walter Payton after his passing in 1999).
     Duerson "stepped in and did a great job for us," said Bears head coach Mike Ditka. It was no fault of Duerson's that he was not as famous in Chicago as most four-time Pro Bowlers would have been, because the Bears of those days were well stocked with larger-than-life characters (starting with Ditka himself) who, intentionally or not, tended to attract the spotlight.
     After leaving the Bears, Duerson served as a backup with the New York Giants and the Phoenix Cardinals, wrapping up his 11-year career in 1993. He was one of only three 1985 Bears to earn two Super Bowl rings. It is well known and still lamented that the Super Bowl XX champions never returned to the pinnacle--but Duerson picked up a second ring with the 1990 Giants, as did Richard Dent with the 1994 49ers and Jim McMahon with the 1996 Packers.
     The intelligent, ambitious Duerson became a successful entrepreneur after his playing days, and for some time he was viewed as a role model for retired athletes wishing to make a smooth transition to other careers. Duerson later suffered reversals that included financial difficulties and a domestic-battery complaint in 2005, but former teammates who saw him at the 1985 Bears' reunion last November said he looked fit and seemed to be in good spirits. They were stunned to learn that his death has been ruled a suicide. "I knew he had some problems," Ditka said, "I knew he lost his business. I knew all that. [But] it's just a tragedy."
     "For someone to leave us at age 50, very young, active, and in great shape, that's tragic," said former linebacker Jim Morrissey. "It's way too early for someone to pass. We were just hoping he would have said something, that we could have helped."
     Although Duerson did not reach out for help himself, it's possible that his untimely passing will eventually help others. He donated his brain to further research into chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative neurological disease that has afflicted many former NFL players.

1985 Bears Flashback: "It Didn't Matter What We Scored"

Twenty-five years ago yesterday, the 1985 Bears punched their ticket to Super Bowl XX in New Orleans with a resounding 24-0 victory in the NFC championship game. That game is described below in an excerpt from the recent book Heydays: Great Stories in Chicago Sports.



WILBER MARSHALL (58) AND OTIS WILSON ROMP TO THE RAMS END ZONE.

     
     The Bears hosted the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game on January 12, 1986. It was a suitably cold and windy day in Chicago, and the Rams looked as if they longed for the temperate climes of southern California. Bears defensive end Dan Hampton said he could see defeat in their eyes even at the opening coin toss. When the Rams won the flip and elected to receive, the crowd of 63,522 cheered, figuring the Bear defenders would push them backward.
     From the start, Los Angeles quarterback Dieter Brock (10-for-31 passing) and running back Eric Dickerson (17 carries for 46 yards) were wholly ineffective. Dickerson, supposed to be the man who would eventually break Walter Payton’s lifetime rushing mark, had gained a playoff-record 234 yards against Dallas the week before. The Bears held him to less than three yards per attempt and forced him to fumble twice. “If they would have run him more,” said defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, who had predicted three fumbles by Dickerson, “he would have had three.”
     In the third quarter, Dickerson and Bears middle linebacker Mike Singletary—Southwest Conference rivals at S.M.U. and Baylor, respectively—renewed their acquaintance in the Rams’ backfield. Dickerson had just taken a handoff when he blasted into Singletary filling the gap and stopped dead in his tracks; he moved not one inch forward after meeting up with the Bears’ middle linebacker. “I like this kind of party!” Singletary shouted to the Rams. “I’m gonna be here all day!”
     Bears quarterback Jim McMahon, meanwhile, was brilliant. Despite the weather, he hit on 16 of 25 passes for 164 yards. On the Bears’ first series, he ran 16 yards for a touchdown on a play that was called as a pass. Later he passed for a touchdown on a play called as a run. “The coach sent in a play I didn’t agree with,” McMahon said, “so I called my own.” His 22-yard strike to Willie Gault put the Bears ahead 17-0, and the outcome was decided. The Bears would be NFC champions.
     The fans began to chant: “Super Bowl, Super Bowl.” Late in the fourth quarter, the hapless Brock dropped back to pass and was flung to the turf by Richard Dent. The ball popped loose. Linebacker Wilber Marshall picked it up at midfield and headed into Rams territory with Otis Wilson escorting him. Just then, it started to snow.
     Marshall and Wilson romped 52 yards to the Los Angeles end zone all alone, while the crowd cheered both them and the snow. As the final minutes ticked away, the Bears briefly abandoned the business-as-usual demeanor that had characterized them all year. The embraced one another on the sideline, and head coach Mike Ditka congratulated each man individually. Safety Dave Duerson asserted that Ditka even became choked up. The final score was 24-0.

“The way we were playing defense,” said Ditka, “it didn’t matter what we scored.”

The Bears became the first team ever to post back-to-back playoff shutouts.
     The Bears were headed to New Orleans for the first Super Bowl in franchise history and their first championship game since 1963. They would make the trip worthwhile.