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    Retired Numbers



     50  DICK
    BUTKUS
    1962-64 // Linebacker/Center
    Born: December 9, 1942
    Number retired: Sept. 20, 1986

    BUTKUS' CAREER TACKLING STATISTICS

    Year Games Tackles
    Average
    1962 7 97
    13.9
    1963 10 145
    14.5
    1964 9 132
    14.7
    Career 26 374
    14.4
    		 Dick Butkus remains the standard to which all linebackers are compared. He played two All-America seasons in 1963 and 1964 before enjoying a Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears, where he was a six-time All-Pro selec­tion. Butkus finished third in the 1964 Heisman Trophy voting and has college football's annual award for the outstanding collegiate line­backer named after him. He had his jersey, No. 50, retired at Illinois in 1986, joining Red Grange as the only two Illinois football players to have their num­bers retired. But­kus helped lead the Fight­ing Illini to a 1964 Rose Bowl vic­tory over Washington. He earned first-team All-Big Ten honors twice and was awarded the 1963 Silver Football Award as the Big Ten's Most Valuable Player. Butkus fin­ished his career with 374 tackles. His 145 stops in 1963 stood as the school record until 1976. He was named the 1964 Player of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.

    Butkus was named to the Big Ten Diamond Anniversary Team in 1970, The Sporting News College Coaches All-Time Team, the Walter Camp All-Century Team and the University of Illinois All-Century Team. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979 and to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.

    • "All I ever wanted to do was to play football. It was a human factor that got me to come here to Illinois. I'm very proud to be a former Illini. I'll always be an Illini." -- Dick Butkus

    • "If every college football team had a linebacker like Dick Butkus of Illinois, all fullbacks would soon be three feet tall and sing soprano." -- Dan Jenkins, Sports Illustrated

    • "Butkus didn't have bad games, just varying degrees of excellence." -- Bert Bertine, former sports editor, Champaign Urbana Courier

    • "All the greats have the natural physical talent. Dick was so strong and agile and possessed great quickness. His biggest attributes, however, were his instincts and his desire. No one wanted to play the game of football as much as Dick Butkus. He is the finest football player I have ever coached." -- Pete Elliott, former UI coach

    • "Dick would not only tackle you, he would consume you. He never missed a tackle and you knew that any­time you ran the ball that Butkus would be in on the tackle." -- Paul Hornung, Hall of Famer

    • "What do I respect most about him? His guts . . . they put it to him hard and right away he comes back at them with a big play." -- Don Hansen, former UI teammate

    • "He is a legend. I never thought any player could play as well as writers write that he can, but Butkus came as close as any player I've seen." -- Tommy Prothro, former UCLA coach

    • "Dick Butkus remains the standard for defensive players to strive for." -- George Halas, former UI player and longtime owner and coach of the Chicago Bears

    • "Our game plans were always to run at Illinois tackles ... and AWAY from Butkus." -- Bump Elliott, former Michigan coach





     77  RED
    GRANGE
    1923-25 // Halfback
    Born: June 13, 1903 // Died: January 28, 1991
    Number retired: 1925
    Harold E. "Red" Grange is one of football's all-time greats, and argu­ably the game's greatest all-time offensive player. He is a charter member of the Pro (1963) and College (1951) Foot­­ball Halls of Fame. Grange's most memorable per­for­m­ance came Oct. 18, 1924, when he scored four touch­­­downs in the first 12 minutes vs. Michigan in the Memo­rial Stad­ium dedication game. Later in the same game, he ran for a fifth touchdown and threw for a sixth. Nicknamed the "Wheaton Iceman" and "Galloping Ghost," he left Illinois to play pro football with the Chi­cago Bears under former Fighting Illini George Halas. He was an All-American in each of his three seasons with Illinois and won the 1924 Silver Football Award as the Big Ten's Most Valu­able Player, the first recipient of the award. He was named to The Sporting News All-Time Team, the Big Ten Diamond Anniversary Team, the Walter Camp All-Century Team and the UI All-Century Team.
    • "This man Red Grange of Illinois is three or four men and a horse rolled into one for football purposes. He is Jack Demp­sey, Babe Ruth, Al Jolson, Paavo Nurmi and Man O' War." -- Damon Runyon, famed sportswriter

    • "I played football the only way I know how. If you have the football and 11 guys are after you, if you're smart, you'll run. It was no big deal." -- Red Grange

    • "They knew he was coming; they saw him start; he made no secret of his direction; he was in their midst, and he was gone!" -- excerpt from Chicago Tribune article after Illinois-Michigan game of 1924

    • "A streak of fire, a breath of flame, eluding all who reach and clutch, A gray ghost thrown into the game That rival hands may never touch; A rubber bounding, blasting soul, whose destination is the goal." -- Grantland Rice, famed sportswriter

    • "He ran with a rhythm I've never seen duplicated -- the over­all effect being one of orchestrated perfection. Gener­a­tions to come will produce their great runners, but only Grange's name will be immortal. They can argue all they want about the greatest football player who ever lived. I was satisfied I had him when I had Red Grange. I will never have another Red Grange, but neither will anyone else." -- Bob Zuppke, former UI coach
    		Some of Grange's Awards
    1924
    Chicago Tribune Silver Football Award as Big Ten Most Valuable Player (First year of the award)

    1924
    Frank A. Toomey Trophy by the Veteran Athletes of Philadelphia for national player of the year ­(considered the Heisman Trophy of its time)

    1951
    Inducted as charter member into College Football Hall of Fame

    1963
    Inducted as charter member into National Football League Hall of Fame

    1969
    Football Writers Association of America All-Time All-America team (unanimous)

    1989
    Walter Camp All-Century Team

    1990
    Illinois All-Century Team

    GRANGE'S CAREER STATISTICS AT ILLINOIS

      RUSHING   PASSING   TOTAL OFFENSE
      ------------------------------   ----------------------------------------------------------------------   ------------------------------
     Att Yds Avg   Att Com Int Pct Yds TD   Pl Yds TD
    1923 129 723 5.6   9 4 0 .444 36 0   138 759 12
    1924 113 743 6.6   44 26 4 .591 433 2   157 1176 15
    1925 146 605 4.1   29 10 7 .345 106 1   175 711 7
    Career 388 2071 5.3   82 40 11 .488 575 3   470 2646 34
      RECEIVING   INTERCEPTIONS   PUNT RETURNS   KICKOFF RETURNS   SCORING
      --------------------   ------------------------   -------------------------   ------------------------------   ---------------
      No Yds TD Avg   No Yds   No Yds   No Yds   TD Pts
    1923 10 178 1 17.8   3 140   15 212   1 7   12 72
    1924 2 40 0 20.0   2 24   11 83   4 136   13 78
    1925 2 35 1 17.5   6 83   22 191   10 310   6 36
    Career 14 253 2 18.1   11 247   48 486   15 453   31 186

    (updated 2/09)

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