Dick Butkus in 1965: The Baddest Rookie the NFL Has Ever Seen

The Chicago Bears paid Dick Butkus nearly $1,000 a pound to play football for them and every time Butkus crashes into an enemy blocker he returns full value on the pounds, all 245 of them. In his first pro year, he has taken over the middle linebacker’s job and helped restore the legendary ferocity of the Bears’ defense. In the National League, so many first-year men have muscled into the starting lineup — a record 25 — that this has proved the Year of the Rookie. Among the rookies, Butkus so far is the best. A teammate halfback, Gale Sayers, has been the offensive star — he scored four touchdowns in one game and at mid-season led the league ins coring. Olympic sprinting champion Bob Hayes scored three touchdowns for Dallas, the first four times he got the ball. The Giants have sometimes had more rookies in the lineup than veterans — and won more games the first month than they did all last year. The rookies had to make it by brawn and book learning in a rough world full of strange codes and crafty old pros.