It’s football. It’s Butkus.

Perhaps the best pairing of a name and player in the history of the game.

In a new book, Black Sox & Three Peats: A Century of Chicago’s Best Sportswriting, Ron Rapoport, the editor, selected a vintage 1979 column on Butkus from Don Pierson of the Chicago Tribune, a legend in his own right.

Pierson wrote:

“Butkus. He was as Chicago as Daley, as Illinois as Grange. Some people are born to play football. Football was born for Dick Butkus. Some people name their children after heroes. In Chicago, people name their dogs after Butkus–out of respect. He symbolizes the ferocity of his sport. He is in the Hall of Fame now, and a thousand NFL players are oh so glad he’s there and not still on the field.”