[DouglasKC]

The first real television sport I saw was an NFL football game between the Redskins and Bears 1n 1971, and what I remembered most was Dick Butkus catching a touchdown pass. I knew nothing about football, but every school kid knew who Dick Butkus was...:) It was an extremely exciting game, and I was hooked.

I'm not trying to be a jerk here...but....this struck me as strange because Butkus was defensive player. So I looked up his stats...never scored a touchdown as far as I could tell. May have been a case of faulty memory association...happens to me all the time.

[rlmorel]

Lol, I know what you mean, but no...he actually did catch a touchdown pass!

"...United Press International: November 14, 1971; Bobby Douglass' 35-yard touchdown conversion pass to burly Dick Butkus squeezed the Chicago Bears to a 16-15 victory over the front running Washington Redskins Sunday. The Bears seemed doomed to settle for a tie when, after Cyril Pinder's 40 yard touchdown dash in the fourth quarter,Gene Hamlin's center snap to Douglass, who was holding for kicker Mac Percival, sailed over Douglass' head. Hardly fazed, Douglass raced back, picked up the ball and dodged at least two tacklers around the 35 yard line as he steered downfield. Then spotted Butkus, the all-pro middle linebacker, who gets into the offensive backfield only to block in kicking situations, in the end zone. Douglass laid the ball perfectly in Butkus' arms and, although the Redskins protested feverishly, the reception and the vital one point stood up for the Bears' victory..."

[rlmorel]

Actually, I did make an error, because to be honest, I had no idea about the game of football at the time, and when I saw him catch that pass, I thought it was a touchdown. It was actually a bungled PAT attempt, but all these years (until recently) I never really went back and read about it. But the two points for the conversion won the Bears the game.

Interestingly, I never knew it was one of the highlights (for him) of his career (from this ESPN online live chat session)

Matt (Chicago):
What is your best memory from your playing days?

Dick Butkus
I guess catching a wayward extra point attempt. A ball was snapped over Bobby's head. He recovered it around the 35 yard line and then threw it to me in then end zone for the extra point. I caught it with one eye, because like a boxer, I was hit in the eye and it was swollen shut. I jumped up to catch it and caught it around my waist. My teammates saw it on tape and were getting on me about it.