From NFL Legend To Mentoring Chicago Youth
One of the stars of the Chicago Bears’ 1985 Super Bowl team, on his team’s dominance, concussions, fixing the Chicago education problem and more
Otis Wilson was a star linebacker on the 1985 Chicago Bears Super Bowl team — a team that some, like ESPN, call “the most famous football team ever.” The team will be the focus of an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary tonight.
But Otis Wilson’s story doesn’t end when he left the football field after 10 years in 1990. He started the Otis Wilson Charitable Association, and 25 years later, his work with the kids of Chicago is still changing lives. Wilson talked to Project FANchise in a brutally honest, wide-ranging interview on life inside of football, and out of it.
Project FANchise: Tell us about your transition from playing in college to playing in the pros — how was your rookie season and the beginning of your career?
Otis Wilson: For me it was tough. I don’t know how much you know about the infamous 4–6 defense and Buddy Ryan’s system, but it seemed like we had a playbook with 300 plays, and for every one of those plays you had 5 or 6 different responsibilities. So coming from college where I pretty much just played middle linebacker and it was relatively simple — maybe 5 or 10 plays that we used — going from no responsibility to a lot of responsibility, that took a great adjustment. My head was swimming. And Buddy Ryan never really had faith in any rookie. And I kind of understood that, because in his system, you didn’t know what the hell you were doing! I didn’t like him, because he never called me by my name. He’d always call guys by their number: ‘Hey 55.’ But as soon as I got in the film room with Buddy, sat down with him, and started looking at the whole scheme of things, I really admired and understood what he was trying to do to offenses.
PF: How about with your teammates. Fans see what happens on Sunday, maybe a little of practice, but what was the locker room like, the camaraderie?
OW: I had the great fortune of, when I got in that locker room, there was Walter Payton, who I played seven years with. Dan Hampton came before me, Roland Harper. Me and Matt Suhey were the only rookies who made it that year, so we were the only rookies in the locker room. Walter kind of took me under his wing, going hunting — myself and Vince Evans. We’re an NFL team, so we’re professional with what we do. But being in any locker room with 60 guys plus, everybody is thoroughly enjoying themselves. You’re doing something you love. We’re playing a game. It starts to turn into a business when you get into college, because you have a scholarship and you have responsibilities you have to keep. In the NFL, you have a contract that you have to keep and perform. So it becomes somewhat of a business, but the locker room itself is always full of guys you enjoy being with.
These kids today, if it hits 90 degrees they don’t even have practice. They don’t wear pads.
PF: You were part of some of the great NFL teams of all time, including perhaps the most famous football team of all time, the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears. What was the experience like of playing for that team — how early on in that year did you know this was something special?
OW: You know I really didn’t know it was special until after the Super Bowl. Mike Singletary, Richard Dent, Dave Duerson, Jim McMahon, I could go on and on. It was a thrill to play on that team. Because you had the #1 team offensively — you can’t forget Walter Payton — and the #1 team defensively, going at each other day after day. We never went against the second unit. It was always #1 team vs. #1 team. We had two practices a day, 100-degree weather. These kids today, if it hits 90 degrees they don’t even have practice. They don’t wear pads. That made you competitive. You knew where that bar was. We set the bar high. From 1980, when I came to the Bears, to ‘88, and I left in ‘89 — that 8 year stretch was phenomenal. We dominated it. If Buddy Ryan hadn’t gone to Philadelphia, I guarantee you we would have won two Super Bowls in a row, and possibly three. The aggressiveness totally left. I’d put that team up against any team that won more than one Super Bowl. We didn’t win games, we dominated games. That’s the difference.
PF: It was dominating on the field, but also — now, so much of what people think about when they think about football is the endorsements and interviews and what ESPN is playing: the culture aspect of it, becoming part of the cultural conversation. It seems like that ‘85 team may have been the first to be part of that. How did your life change after that?
OW: Well number one, you go from being a great team to being on top of the world. After the Super Bowl, me and Richard were walking down Park Avenue in New York and some kid said, ‘That’s two guys from the Super Bowl Shuffle.’ He didn’t even say ‘That’s two guys who won the Super Bowl.’ We made a splash there. We raised a lot of money for charity with that, but if we didn’t win the Super Bowl we would have been laughed out of town. But it all worked out. Fans just mauled you. We just had a great time. We were living the life. But one thing about it was we kept our professionalism — you never heard what you hear about these kids today. And we kept winning football games.
We didn’t win games, we dominated games. That’s the difference.
PF: No Johnny Manziels on that team?
OW: Well we stayed home and did it. If you wanted to get drunk, you stayed home and did it in somebody’s basement!
PF: A lot of people are about to find about the 1985 team with ESPN’s 30 for 30 on the team, premiering tonight. Can you preview it?
OW: Well one, they were hoping to find a team that’s in despair. They were bringing up all kinds of negative stuff. But when they got here and realized probably 70% of the team lives here in Chicago, 75% of the team is doing very well, and is still talking like we won the championship last year. I think it’s going to be something positive. It’s going to bring back some good memories. From what I understand, you’re going to get some great stories.
PF: Project FANchise will empower fans, and as you look at the landscape today — Madden, fantasy football, daily fantasy — how have you seen fans evolve from when you were playing in the 80s to now?
OW: It’s totally different now, with social media and fantasy football. I don’t think we could have operated like how everyone interacts now back in our day. But you deal with it, you make that adjustment. If we had to do it at that time, we would have. But back in our day you didn’t have a cell phone. You had to say what you had to say right there.
PF: What do you think about how social media brings fans closer to players?
OW: Through my foundation, we have social media — I think I have maybe 20,000 followers and fans now. My daughter keeps up with it. I think it’s good, how you and the fans can relate and communicate and put stuff out there. It’s not a bad thing. But I’m old school, and there’s nothing like hearing pitches and tones, talking to someone, as opposed to everything at your fingertips.
You never become successful without someone’s help. I had mentors growing up, and I still have mentors to this day.
PF: You mentioned the charity you’re working with, The Otis Wilson Charitable Association. How is that going, but also how have your interactions been with other players who want to give back?
OW: I started my non-profit in 1990 when I officially retired and I wanted to give back to the community. You never become successful without someone’s help. I had mentors growing up, and I still have mentors to this day. I run a fitness, nutrition and crime prevention program. We added a mentoring piece as well, but it all started from a sports program. I wanted to take the knowledge I’ve learned, in how to mentally, physically and spiritually take care of myself, and transcend it to young people. Now we have a martial arts program. We have a dance program. We have a crime prevention program. We have a literacy piece. I worked with the Chicago Parks department. I worked with the Chicago city schools. I just want our young people to understand, in order to meet a challenge you have to be prepared. We do it five days a week, and an eight-week summer program. We work with kids eight through 18. It’s all about getting them to understand to eat right, but most importantly educate yourself and become a productive citizen in the community. I sit home and I shake my head sometimes because I’m not happy with what our school system is doing for our kids right now, which basically is nothing. Because they’re not really educating them the way they’re supposed to, which makes my job hard. But I’m committed and I gain their trust. I have 40 kids in high school who are committed. I have about 90 middle school kids and they’re committed. I get letters from parents who say, ‘I can’t thank you enough.’ I can’t save all of them, but if I can save a few of them, that’s what I’ll do. In the next four or five years I’ll probably turn it over to my kids and let them run it, because they basically do now. And I’ll run my football camps. I just really like working with young people, and getting them to see their potential when they don’t see it.
You have generations that aren’t educated. They don’t know how to resolve their conflicts.
PF: A lot of people hear about Chicago on the news, but living in the middle of that, what do you think of the violence there?
OW: I work with Chicago public school kids every day. They’re not educating our kids right now. They didn’t educate their parents. They didn’t educate their parents. So you have generations that aren’t educated. They don’t know how to resolve their conflicts. They key to it is: the system is not educating. When you don’t educate folks, you don’t give them options. What they see as glamorous is the boys on the corner slinging. You can either do that lifestyle or get a job. Kids are going to school, but the dropout rate is 48% in the black community. The teachers don’t have the equipment needed. We take the kids to the police station down the street from us for a field trip. Do you know half of those kids knew half of those on the billboard on the Most Wanted posters? They said, ‘that’s Pookie’s brother. That’s Ray-Ray’s brother.’ I was embarrassed, but that’s what they deal with. These are people in their communities. You don’t fault our young kids. I see mayors, politicians talking about making a difference, but none of them are making a difference. And I don’t mind saying it. It’s pay-to-play, everyone is lining their own pockets at the expense of our communities.
If I kept my success and my riches to myself, then my blessings would be cut off. I’m continuously being blessed to be a blessing to someone else.
PF: Why did you feel obligated to help?
OW: I’m from Brooklyn, New York. But I owe it to my community, because someone helped me. There were people like Greg Jackson, World B. Free, that took the time out to say ‘don’t do this, don’t do that.’ If I kept my success and my riches to myself, then my blessings would be cut off. I’m continuously being blessed to be a blessing to someone else. That’s giving them knowledge and understanding that if I can make it, you can too.
PF: Did you get a chance to see Concussion — what did you think?
OW: I thought it was right on point. Except the Dave Duerson part, because he isn’t the only person who sat on that board. I didn’t like that phase of it, but the overall movie I thought they put it out there as much as they could. The NFL didn’t like it. Obviously they want to protect that shield. But the reality of it is, they knew what was going on. It’s hard to cover it up. You’ll see more and more of it unfold. It would be so much easier if they took money each year —$10 million a year, which is like $10 to them — put it in annuity, and you wouldn’t have a problem. If you put things in place to help people, which they could, you wouldn’t have a problem. Do we know what we signed up for? Yes, we knew the risks we took. But if you had to do it all over again you’d still go out there, because you love the game.
PF: What did Walter Payton mean to you, and to the city of Chicago?
OW: Walter was a special person. When I got here in 1980, there are certain people you’re drawn to, and he was one of them. Every Tuesday we’d go pheasant hunting. Spending time with him — and of course he had the restaurants and night clubs. It was Walter 24/7. You enjoyed talking to him — he was a dedicated and motivated football player, but also a dedicated businessman. Just by watching, I learned a lot of things from him. I can’t say enough about him. His motor never stopped running. And he was always smiling.
PF: How’s the body holding up in retirement?
OW: I thank God, I still get my three or four days a week in, I eat right and exercise. Other than loss of some flexibility, I don’t have an ache or pain on me. I got out, knock on wood, very healthy. But if I take a week or month off, my body feels vulnerable. I do a little bit of everything — hot yoga, stretching. It works, I enjoy it.
Project FANchise Quick Hits:
- Greatest defensive player of all time: “Jack Tatum.”
- Greatest quarterback of all time: “The way it’s looking, Tom Brady.”
- Most underrated athlete you played with or played against: “Wilbur Marshall.”
- Best NBA player right now — LeBron or Steph Curry? “Do you want my honest opinion or politically correct? Honestly, this generation doesn’t move enough. Dr. J and Michael Jordan.”
- If you were NFL commissioner, what’s the first rule you’d change? “I’d go back to hitting and playing football, especially the quarterbacks.”
- The food you have to get at the stadium when you watch a game: “Got to have a hot dog.”
- Best sports city: “Chicago, no doubt.”
- Memorable moment from your childhood that made you love sports for the first time: “1973, city championship. I played tight end. I had a touchdown.”
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
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