John Robertson Sports Paintings for sale.
I Think I have painted or drawn Dick Butkus of the Chicago
Bears five times. As I have said before,
he is one of my all-time favorite players.
A great number of years ago I was in a lumberyard in Malibu
(The old Malibu Lumber, on Pacific
Coast Highway ) and I turned to see who the guy
next to me was (in Malibu
there is a good chance for celebrity sightings)
Lo and behold it was Dick Butkus.
I slobered all over him, telling him how much I had enjoyed watching him
play. He asked if I had seen him on the
silver screen.. I said I did not find
watching him act quite as enjoyable but I did like him in those old in Miller
Lite commercials. (Probably way before your time)
Dick Butkus graduated from the University of Illinois Canton , Ohio
He had a group of different nicknames: “The Robot of Destruction,” “The Maestro of Mayhem,” “The Enforcer,” and “The Animal.” Arthur Kretchmer in his article “Butkus:One Season And One Injury With The Meanest Man Alive” says, when speaking
to Butkus, "Dave Meggyesy, the
ex-Cardinal, says that football is so brutal he was taught to use his hands to
force a man's cleats into the turf and then drive his shoulder into the man's
knee to rip his leg apart. That ever happen to you?" Butkus’ response;
…"Hell, no! All you'd have to do is roll with the block and step on the
guy's face."
I lke his closing lines to Dick Butkus’sHall of Fame induction speech. There
is something very humble about it. “I
consider being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the top of my
dream. For only on the top can I see the whole view. And I can now see what I
have done and what I can do from now on. I have a new vision and a new goal now
and that is simply to be a better husband and a better father and a better
person. Along with the other enshrinees, I will always try to be a proud
representative of this the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Thank you very much.”
