Dick Butkus wants his award back

For over 20 years the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando awarded the Dick Butkus trophy to their pick of the best linebacker in college football.  Butkus filed suit on Orlando District Court on Monday to sack the club, then recover his award.  Story in the New York Times (which will take registration). Or SI.com

Why does Butkus want to reverse his field?

Butkus and athletic club officials disagree about which charitable organizations should benefit most from Butkus’s association with the award, according to his lawyer, Robert Helfing. By taking control, he said, Butkus hopes to raise more money for charities with which he is affiliated.

Butkus supports the Hooton Foundation to keep kids form juicing:

He also started an educational campaign, called Lean Mean and Clean, to eradicate steroids among high school athletes. Butkus works closely with the Taylor Hooton Foundation, named after a former high school baseball pitcher from Plano, Tex., and a cousin of the former major league pitcher Burt Hooton. Taylor Hooton committed suicide in 2003 at age 17, before his senior year. The family started the foundation because they say his use of anabolic steroids played a significant role in causing severe depression, leading to his suicide.

In seeking licensing control of his name for an award to a college linebacker, Butkus contends, he would be able to use his status to bring more attention and money to organizations, like the Taylor Hooton Foundation. Helfing said Butkus had discussed his concerns with the athletic club, but that the sides had been unable to reach an agreement.

There may be time to drop back in coverage for the Orlando Club, however Butkus' lawyer sounds determined.
“It’s possible that we could still work this out and that Dick could reach an new agreement with the club,” Helfing said. “If not, maybe we’ll present it in Chicago, or somewhere where Dick has closer ties. But we just wanted to confirm with the court that Dick has the right to use his name with a college football award and that Dick was terminating his licensing agreement with the club.”

Sounds to us that Butkus would not be happy with the 1985 and 1986 Butkus award-winner: juicer Brian Bosworth.