The Associated Press has been putting out the annual AP All-American Team for 100 years.
To celebrate that accomplishment, the AP decided to put out its all-time All-American Team. They compiled a list of the all-time first and second teams of the greatest college football players over the organization’s 100 years of All-American teams.
You can check out the teams here.
There are plenty of names that headline the list, including the likes of Tim Tebow, Barry Sanders, Randy Moss, and Deion Sanders. But
three Chicago Bears made the first team as well.
Dick Butkus was named the AP’s first-team at linebacker. Butkus played at Illinois from 1961 to 1964. He was named first-team All-American in 1963 and 1964. He was a second-team All-American in 1962. His number 50 has been retired by Illinois, and he also has an award, “The Butkus Award,” named after him, that is awarded to the nation’s best linebacker at the high school, collegiate, and NFL levels.
Bronko Nagurski was named first-team at defensive tackle. Nagurski played at the University of Minnesota from 1927 to 1929. In 1929, Nagurksi was named first-team All-American at two positions, fullback and defensive tackle. Had fullback been part of the AP’s all-time team, there’s a good chance Nagurski would have been represented at two positions on the all-time team as well. He was that good.
Finally, the third member of the Chicago Bears that was named to the AP all-time All-American team was none other than punter Tory Taylor. Taylor attended the University of Iowa from 2020 to 2023 and was a unanimous All-American in 2023 and also won the Ray Guy award as the nation’s top collegiate punter. Taylor broke the record for the most punting yards in a single season and also had a whopping 43.4% inside the 20 on all his punts throughout his collegiate career.
Ohio State tackle Orlando Pace was also named to the first-team all-time All-American team. Pace spent the 2009 season with the Chicago Bears before he retired.
No Chicago Bears were represented on the AP’s second team.
