"To play this game -- and I've always said this -- you have to have a Neanderthal gene. Butkus had two," says former Chicago Bears teammate Doug Buffone on ESPN Classic's SportsCentury series.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) – The University of Illinois will host the 2025 Butkus Award Show. The event will be held in Illinois football’s Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 1. The Butkus Award ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Since 1985, the Butkus Award has signified the nation’s top linebacker. This year, the award ceremony returned to Champaign, the place of the Butkus name became legend.

Over the past seven years, two Georgia players have won the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker. First-year starter Jalon Walker just made it three in eight years. On Wednesday ...

Illinois Hall of Famer Dick Butkus shares a joke with Kaden McCoy, 13, of Lincoln Nebraska as he signs autographs at Grange Grove before Illinois' game vs. Nebraska on Friday, Sept. 29 ...

Former Illinois star linebackers Dana Howard, left, and Kevin Hardy attended Saturday’s Butkus Award ceremony at Memorial Stadium. The Butkus Award was on display Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

For the first time, Illinois is hosting the ceremony for the Butkus Award, which is named in honor of the late, great Dick Butkus. It will be held at Memorial Stadium and honor 2024 winner Jalon ...

It is possible that Dick Butkus was the meanest, nastiest, fiercest linebacker to ever put on a helmet. More than a quarter of a century after his retirement, there remains the Butkus image ...