Chicago Bears Hall of Famer, Dick Butkus, dies at 80
Posted: Oct 5, 2023 9:13 PM EST
Former Chicago Bears linebacker and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Dick Butkus, has died at the age of 80, the team announced Thursday.
A statement from his family, posted by the Bears on social media, reads Butkus died "peacefully in his sleep overnight at home” in Malibu, California.
Butkus was “the ultimate Bear, and one of the greatest players in NFL history,” Chicago Bears chairman George H. McCaskey said.
Butkus was drafted out of the University of Illinois, and was an imposing force as the Bears’ middle linebacker for all nine of his NFL seasons in the 1960s and 1970s, and made eight Pro Bowls.