Fans and Friday night’s game to pay homage to football legend Dick Butkus

Dick Butkus statue on the University of Illinois campus.

CHAMPAIGN – Football fans from across America are paying homage to Dick Butkus. The Illinois and NFL football star died Thursday at the age of 80.

The University of Illinois will honor Butkus during the Fighting Illini versus Nebraska Cornhuskers game on Friday night at Memorial Stadium. U of I Athletics says tributes will include a moment of silence prior to the national anthem, a video tribute at the beginning of halftime, helmet stickers for the Fighting Illini team, and Illinois staff in Butkus shirts.

Near the stadium, flowers are piling up below the statue of Butkus on the campus. Butkus played for the Illini from 1962 to 1964 before joining the Chicago Bears.

Wearing a Dick Butkus jersey, Brad Turner visited the statue honoring the football great.

“[I] think he was one of a kind and one of the best players ever to play,” said Turner, who said he once met Butkus.

Despite wearing a red Nebraska jersey, Linda Ratlief came to take pictures and honor Butkus.

“Followed his career pretty much through the NFL. His name was pretty synonymous with football,” said Ratlief.

People also decorated the iconic Alma Mater statue on central campus with Butkus’ number 50 jersey.

According to the Associated Press, Butkus played his entire career close to home. He was a star linebacker, fullback and kicker at Chicago Vocational High who went on to play at the University of Illinois. Born on December 9, 1942, as the youngest of eight children. He grew up on the city’s South Side as a fan of the Chicago Cardinals, the Bears’ crosstown rivals.

 

Reginald Hardwick

Reginald Hardwick is the News & Public Affairs Director at Illinois Public Media. He oversees daily newscasts and online stories. He also manages The 21st Show, a live, weekday talk show that airs on 7 NPR stations throughout Illinois. He is the executive producer of IPM's annual environmental TV special "State of Change." And he is the co-creator of Illinois Soul, IPM's Black-focused audio service that launched in February 2024. Before arriving at IPM in 2019, he served as News Director at WKAR in East Lansing and spent 17 years as a TV news producer and manager at KXAS, the NBC-owned station in Dallas/Fort Worth. Reginald is the recipient of three Edward R. Murrow regional awards, seven regional Emmy awards, and multiple honors from the National Association of Black Journalists. Born in Vietnam, Reginald grew up in Colorado and is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado. Email: rh14@illinois.edu Twitter: @RNewsWILL