The reason the Bears still use Butkus' number is because of the
NFL's numbering system. Centers and linebackers are required to wear the
nbers 50 through 59. The Bears retired a few old-timers' numbers which
happened to be in the fifties, including Hall of Famer Bill George. These
guys played during the Bears early glory years, before there was such a
thing as the Super Bowl Shuffle. Since every team carries about 7 or 8
centers and linebackers, and a few fifty numbers had already been retired,
there was no room to retire Butkus' #51. So don't blame the Bears'
organization, blame ROZELLE. Maybe someone can tell me why the numbering
system was developed. BTW that's why you never see 0's or 00's any more.
{prynj, psuvax1}!vu-vlsi!williams
I seem to remember something about the knee injuries Butkus suffered as being
part of the lawsuit...
The official reason was concern for running out of usable numbers
if they started retiring recent players (the Bears have retired
something like seven numbers so far, uncluding Red Grange, Bronko
Nagurski, Bulldog Turner (I think), Sid Luckman, Brian Piccolom
(oops, Piccolo) and a few others.
The real reason is probably that Butkus left under less than friendly
terms, suing the Bears for contributing to his bad knees. I don't
understand all of the issues, but Butkus' lawsuit is still pending, I
believe.
The player assigned to 51 is Jim Morrissey, I believe, who is pretty good
on special teams (known as a wild-man on kickoff coverage).
Bob Schleicher
ihuxk!rs55611
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I believe there's more to it than that -- there is also the fact that Butkus
sued the Bears (and Dr. Ted Fox) because of his gimpy knees. Halas always
hated ex-Bears that were anything but faithful when they left the organization;
his attitude towards George Allen was a good example. Even Ditka was on Halas'
list for awhile. A similar situation occured when Bobby Hull jumped to the
WHA and the Black Hawks wouldn't retire number 9. They tried to get Dale
Tallon to wear it but he (wisely) refused, choosing 19 instead. I think
Morrisey has a lot of nerve wearing 51, although it would also take a lot of
nerve to tell Ditka he didn't want to wear a certain number.
You can bet the Bears didn't worry about running out of numbers in the 40's
when they retired Sayers' and Piccolo's numbers!
Marc Lee
Burroughs DSG
San Diego
Butkus and Papa Bear Halas were not, shall we say, drinking buddies.