GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Philip Hauff says he has owned Chicago Bears season tickets for the last 25 years but had never attended one of his favorite team’s games at Lambeau Field before this week.
After former Chicago coach Mike Ditka died Friday at the age of 86, Hauff figured he had to make a trip to Green Bay to pay respects to the coach who had personified the Bears franchise as much as anybody. Hauff bought a ticket to Sunday’s game the day of Ditka’s
death and showed up wearing an 89 jersey, the number Ditka wore while playing tight end for the Bears from 1961-66.
“It’s a very emotional time right now,” the 61-year-old fan from Oak Park, Illinois, said before Sunday’s game.
The Bears wore No. 89 stickers on the backs of their helmets Sunday. The Packers and Bears honored Ditka with a pregame moment of silence. Bears coach Ben Johnson had said Friday that Ditka is “the gold standard in terms of this place” and that the Hall of Famer's impact was still being felt.
Perhaps the most notable tributes to Ditka came in the stands rather than on the sidelines.
No. 89 jerseys were a featured choice of attire among the sizable contingent of Bears fans who made the trip to Green Bay.
Ditka revolutionized the tight end position during a playing career that started in Chicago. He returned to the Bears to coach them from 1982-92. Ditka’s 1985 Bears won the franchise’s lone Super Bowl title and remain one of the most iconic teams in NFL history.
“Ditka’s like (Michael) Jordan,” Hauff said. “He’s Chicago. His passion, his devotion, his no-quit, his toughness. He’s compassionate. We’re a team that sucked for years and he brought us a championship.”
Ditka’s lasting legacy was evident from the fact many of the Bears fans wearing No. 89 jerseys weren’t even born during that 1985 season. The ones who were old enough to experience that title wanted a chance to thank Ditka for helping create an indelible moment.
“I snuck a keg of beer in my dorm room, and me and my college buddy and roommate had the greatest time that day,” said Hauff, a Ball State alum. “That was amazing. It was a wonderful time.”
Other fans arrived wearing the blue Bears sweater vest that Ditka had worn during the Super Bowl blowout of the New England Patriots.
Ryan Tousley of Des Moines, Iowa, said he had bought his sweater vest nearly 20 years ago to dress as Ditka for a Halloween party. He squeezed into it again Sunday for the first time in about 15 years.
“It’s very clear it doesn’t fit, but I had to pay homage to him and get all the good vibes we get,” said the 41-year-old Tousley, who was born during the Bears’ 1985 championship season.
Bob Moretti, a 43-year-old Bears fan from St. Charles, Illinois, had bought a similar sweater vest by coincidence just last week.
“Ditka resembles everything we think about when we think about football,” Moretti said. “You think about hard-nosed, grinding, just hard-working — Chicago. We put the weight on our shoulders and we go.”
Tousley said he wasn’t surprised Ditka had remained enormously popular in Chicago well over three decades after his Bears coaching tenure had ended.
“He did things differently, and he won in Chicago, which hasn’t happened since,” Tousley said. “Chicago’s that type of city, that hangs on to the winners.”
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