Dick Butkus 1969 Topps #139 BCCG 9
Your price: $4550
Category: Memorabilia
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- For sale is a Dick Butkus 1969 Topps #139 Trading Card
- The card is graded 9 near mint or better
- The card has been graded by Beckett - 00010804105
- There is free shipping to any destination in the world.
- You can view the memorabilia piece before purchasing it through a zoom meeting, Skype, Facetime
- It costs $4550 only.
- AfterPay is available and PayPal pay by 4
The title of “
most feared tackler of all time” was awarded by the NFL Network in 2009 to none other than Dick Butkus. They did this with good reason, too, since his presence alone was enough to send chills of gut-wrenching fear down the spines of even the most skilled football players. David “Deacon” Jones, a football Hall-of-Famer and legend in his own right once had this to say about Dick Butkus’ tackling skills: “
He was a well-conditioned animal, and every time he hit you, he tried to put you in the cemetery, not in the hospital.” So what does that tell you about the tackling talent that Dick Butkus possessed?
Standing at a massive 245 pounds (111 kg) and 6 feet 3 inches (1.9 meters) during the prime of his play, Dick Butkus was a ferocious tackler with a relentless pursuit of greatness. Nowadays, he is considered the ‘gold standard’ of middle linebacking and he is the player most commentators and analysts draw for when upcoming linebackers are being assessed for possible greatness. Let us now take a trip back in time as we look at his life and see what shaped him into becoming one of the best middle linebackers to walk the Earth.
Dick Butkus, whose legal name is actually
Richard Marvin Butkus was born in the Fernwood district of south Chicago on December 9, 1942. He was the 1
st of his siblings to actually be born in a hospital and he was quite a massive baby at birth! Weighing 13 pounds and 6 inches (6.1 kg), Dick Butkus’ gigantic birth size should have been the first sign of the greatness that was to come at his hands.
His mother, Emma, worked as a laundry attendant at a nearby laundromat while his father, John, was an employee of the Pullman-Standard Railroad Car Manufacturing Company. He and his 8 siblings grew up in Roseland, Chicago where they frequented the games of the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals played at Comiskey Park. By the 5
th grade, Dick Butkus had already chosen professional football as his career of choice and he worked arduously from a very tender age to be the very best at the sport. In an interview in which he reminisced on his younger years of budding football passion, Dick Butkus once said
“I worked hard at becoming one (football player), just like society says you should. It (society) said you had to be fierce. I was fierce. Tough. I was tough.”
His passion for achievement and dedication to success first manifested itself during his high school years at the Chicago Vocational High School. He quickly became their star football player, pulverizing his opponents on the field and developing key areas of his gameplay, too. As a linebacker, he made 70% of his team’s tackles and as a fullback, he averaged 5 yards per carry. The Chicago Sun-Times honored Dick Butkus as the high school player of the year for Chicago in 1959; he was only 17 years of age at the time and he was the first junior to be bestowed with this honor.
By 1961, Dick Butkus was enrolled in the University of Illinois and one year later, he was playing linebacker and center for their college team. During his junior year in 1963, Dick Butkus had already led his team to the Big Ten Championship, forcing 10 fumbles and 145 tackles. At the end of the season, the University of Illinois’ football team was ranked 3
rd in the whole USA, thanks to Dick Butkus. He was also a serious contender in the battle for the Heisman Trophy that year, finishing in 6
th place. Of course, he upped the ante for the Heisman Trophy in the year that followed and ended up finishing in 3
rd place.
In 1964, Dick Butkus was unanimously chosen to be a part of the All-American, astoundingly playing linebacker on defense and playing both sides of the ball as center on offense. In the years that followed, the University of Illinois chose to retire his “number 50” jersey in honor of his spectacular contribution to the team. To this day, he is one of only two players who have ever received such an honor from the university. They also retired the jersey “number 77” in honor of Harold “Red” Grange. In that same year, sportswriter Dan Jenkins wrote in a cover story for Sports Illustrated that “
all fullbacks soon would be three feet tall and sing soprano" if every college football team had a linebacker like Dick Butkus from Illinois……a mere testament to the tackling force that Dick possessed!
Dick Butkus was selected by the Denver Broncos of the American Football League and the Chicago Bears of the NFL in their 1965 first-round drafts. Ultimately, he chose his home team despite being offered more money by The Broncos. In his debut game with The Bears, he recorded 11 solo tackles, leaving everyone’s mouths wide open as they looked on in astonishment, wondering how a rookie could be so good! Little did they know that what they had just witnessed was the genesis of Dick Butkus’ professional footballing greatness.
He was just what The Bears needed to enhance their struggling defence and reverse their fortunes as a team. In his debut year alone, Dick Butkus had intercepted five passes. By the end of his debut year, Dick Butkus had been chosen for the Pro Bowl- this was a feat he would repeat seven times consecutively. He was also a top contender for the NFL Rookie of the Year honor. However, his teammate Gale Sayers edged him out of the honor that year.
During the course of his nine-year career, Dick Butkus achieved 27 forced fumbles, 22 interceptions and accumulated all of 1020 tackles. He was the epitome of the brutal, hard-nosed yet clean athleticism that has come to be associated with Linebacking. Sadly, his NFL tenure was shortened by a series of knee injuries which culminated with him having to retire at the age of 31 in May 1974.
If you’re a fan of Dick Butkus and you know that his greatness will live on forever, then celebrate his legacy by buying this 1969 Topps Trading Card from the legend himself! This 1969 Dick Butkus Trading Card has been fully authenticated by Beckett Authentication and is an original So, grab it now before someone else beats you to it!
