Tributes flood in for Dick Butkus following the legend’s death at age 80

Chicago Bears legendary linebacker Dick Butkus was the personification of clean (for the era) violence and terror on the football field. Players would say that before you could even deal with Butkus the player, you had to get past Butkus the legend.

Not an easy feat.

Butkus, whose death at the age of 80 was announced on Thursday, was selected by the Bears with the third overall pick in the 1965 draft out of Illinois. He lived up to that high selection in a nine-year career that included eight Pro Bowls, five First-Team All-Pro nods, membership in Pro Football Hall of Fame’s All-1960s and All-1970s teams, and ultimately, induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979.

After the announcement of his passing, tributes to the man and the legend poured in on social media.

Butkus’ Twitter account was, like the man himself, everything you could have hoped for, and more than you had a right to expect.