Thread: Bears Entire Draft History to 1937

Here are our drafts that led up to the 1985 Bears team:

LINK to the complete source data going back to 1937

Chicago Bears
Year	No.	Round	Pick	Player	Name	Position	College

1985	1	1	22	22	William Perry	DT	Clemson
	2	2	21	49	Reggie Phillips	DB	Southern Methodist
	3	3	22	78	James Maness	WR	Texas Christian
	4	4	21	105	Kevin Butler	K	Georgia
	5	7	22	190	Charles Bennett	DE	Southwestern Louisiana
	6	8	21	217	Steve Buxton	T	Indiana State
	7	9	26	250	Thomas Sanders	RB	Texas A&M
	8	10	21	273	Pat Coryatt	DT	Baylor
	9	11	22	302	Jim Morrissey	LB	Michigan State
1984	1	1	11	11	Wilber Marshall	LB	Florida
	2	2	16	44	Ron Rivera	LB	California
	3	3	15	71	Stefan Humphries	G	Michigan
	4	4	14	98	Tom Andrews	G	Louisville
	5	7	11	179	Nakita Robertson	RB	Central Arkansas
	6	8	16	212	Brad Anderson	WR	Arizona
	7	9	20	244	Mark Casale	QB	Montclair State
	8	10	14	266	Kurt Vestman	TE	Idaho
	9	10	19	271	Shaun Gayle	DB	Ohio State
	10	11	18	298	Mark Butkus	DT	Illinois
	11	12	22	330	Donald Jordan	RB	Houston
1983	1	1	6	6	Jimbo Covert	T	Pittsburgh
	2	1	18	18	Willie Gault	WR	Tennessee
	3	2	5	33	Mike Richardson	DB	Arizona State
	4	3	8	64	Dave Duerson	DB	Notre Dame
	5	4	7	91	Tom Thayer	C	Notre Dame
	6	4	23	107	Pat Dunsmore	TE	Drake
	7	8	7	203	Richard Dent	DE	Tennessee State
	8	8	23	219	Mark Bortz	G	Iowa
	9	9	6	230	Rob Fada	G	Pittsburgh
	10	9	11	235	Mark Zavagnin	LB	Notre Dame
	11	10	5	256	Anthony Hutchison	RB	Texas Tech
	12	11	7	286	Gary Worthy	RB	Wilmington (OH)
	13	12	6	313	Oliver Williams	WR	Illinois
1982	1	1	5	5	Jim McMahon	QB	Brigham Young
	2	3	7	62	Tim Wrightman	TE	UCLA
	3	4	6	89	Dennis Gentry	RB	Baylor
	4	5	5	116	Perry Hartnett	T	Southern Methodist
	5	5	23	134	Dennis Tabron	DB	Duke
	6	6	7	146	Kurt Becker	G	Michigan
	7	7	6	173	Henry Waechter	DT	Nebraska
	8	8	5	200	Jerry Doerger	T	Wisconsin
	9	9	7	230	Mike Hatchett	DB	Texas
	10	10	6	257	Joe Turner	DB	USC
	11	11	4	283	Guy Boliaux	LB	Wisconsin
	12	12	7	313	Ricky Young	LB	Oklahoma State
1981	1	1	11	11	Keith Van Horne	T	USC
	2	2	10	38	Mike Singletary	LB	Baylor
	3	3	11	67	Ken Margerum	WR	Stanford
	4	4	12	95	Todd Bell	DB	Ohio State
	5	6	12	150	Reuben Henderson	DB	San Diego State
	6	7	11	177	Jeff Fisher	DB	USC
	7	8	12	205	Scott Zettek	DT	Notre Dame
	8	9	11	232	Frank Ditta	G	Baylor
	9	10	12	260	Tim Clifford	QB	Indiana
	10	11	11	287	Lonnie Johnson	RB	Indiana
	11	12	12	316	Bob Shupryt	LB	New Mexico
1980	1	1	19	19	Otis Wilson	LB	Louisville
	2	2	18	46	Matt Suhey	RB	Penn State
	3	4	20	103	Arland Thompson	G	Baylor
	4	5	20	130	Paul Tabor	C	Oklahoma
	5	6	18	156	Mike Guess	DB	Ohio State
	6	7	18	183	Emanuel Tolbert	WR	Southern Methodist
	7	8	22	215	Randy Clark	G	Northern Illinois
	8	9	21	242	Turk Schonert	QB	Stanford
	9	10	20	269	Willie Stephens	DB	Texas Tech
	10	11	19	296	Chris Judge	DB	Texas Christian
	11	12	18	323	Robert Fisher	TE	Southern Methodist
1979	1	1	4	4	Dan Hampton	DT	Arkansas
	2	1	9	9	Al Harris	DE	Arizona State
	3	2	11	39	Rickey Watts	WR	Tulsa
	4	3	10	66	Willie McClendon	RB	Georgia
	5	6	10	147	John Sullivan	LB	Illinois
	6	7	9	174	Lee Kunz	LB	Nebraska
	7	8	11	203	Rick Moss	DB	Purdue
	8	9	10	230	Jerome Heavens	RB	Notre Dame
	9	10	9	257	Joe Restic	DB	Notre Dame
	10	11	11	286	Bob Wright	T	Cincinnati
	11	12	9	312	Dave Becker	DB	Iowa
1978	1	3	18	74	Brad Shearer	DT	Texas
	2	6	1	139	John Skibinski	RB	Purdue
	3	6	20	158	Mekeli Ieremia	DE	Brigham Young
	4	7	19	185	Herman Jones	WR	Ohio State
	5	8	18	212	George Freitas	TE	California
	6	9	22	244	Mike Martin	LB	Kentucky
	7	10	21	271	Ben Zambiasi	LB	Georgia
	8	11	20	298	Walt Underwood	DE	USC
	9	12	19	325	Lew Sibley	LB	Louisiana State
1977	1	1	15	15	Ted Albrecht	T	California
	2	2	15	43	Mike Spivey	DB	Colorado
	3	3	5	61	Robin Earl	RB	Washington
	4	6	1	140	Vince Evans	QB	USC
	5	7	15	182	Gerald Butler	WR	Nicholls State
	6	9	15	238	Nick Buonamici	DT	Ohio State
	7	10	15	266	Dennis Breckner	DE	Miami (FL)
	8	11	15	294	Connie Zelencik	C	Purdue
1976	1	1	8	8	Dennis Lick	T	Wisconsin
	2	3	6	66	Brian Baschnagel	WR	Ohio State
	3	4	11	103	John Sciarra	DB	UCLA
	4	4	16	108	Wayne Rhodes	DB	Alabama
	5	6	5	161	Dan Jiggetts	T	Harvard
	6	7	8	190	Jerry Muckenstrum	LB	Arkansas State
	7	11	8	299	Norman Andersen	WR	UCLA
	8	12	11	330	John O'Leary	RB	Nebraska
	9	13	10	357	Dale Kasowski	RB	North Dakota
	10	14	9	384	Ron Cuie	RB	Oregon State
	11	15	8	411	Jerry Meyers	DT	Northern Illinois
	12	16	11	442	Ronald Parker	TE	Texas Christian
	13	17	10	469	Mike Malham	LB	Arkansas State
1975	1	1	4	4	Walter Payton	RB	Jackson State
	2	2	5	31	Mike Hartenstein	DE	Penn State

Originally Posted by yttocs

Would I love for the BEARS to have another draft like 83. Seven of the first eight players draft became soild starters. Nowadays we are happy if three from a draft become starters.

Exactly. Those three drafts from '81, '82 & '83 produced 14 solid players, including many Pro Bowl players and 2 Hall of Fame players.

Jimbo Covert	T	All Decade Team & multiple Pro Bowls
Willie Gault	WR	11 year career where he scored 45 TD's and had ~ 8,000 yards total offense
Mike Richardson	DB	Pro Bowl Cornerback. Played 7 years.
Dave Duerson	DB	4 Pro Bowls, NFL Man of the Year, won 2 Super Bowls (1 as a Bear)
Tom Thayer	G	Solid starting guard for us for 7 years. Great blocker for Walter Payton.
Richard Dent	DE	Hall of Fame. 5 time All Pro. Super Bowl MVP. 100 Sack Club. 2 Super Bowl wins (1 as Bear)
Mark Bortz	G	Multiple Pro Bowls. 11 great years as a Bear. Great blocker for Walter Payton.
Jim McMahon	QB	Super Bowl winning QB. Pro Bowl. NFC Rookie of the Year. NFL comeback player of the year.
Dennis Gentry	RB	11 NFL seasons as the Bears second all-time-leading kick returner, with 4,353 yards
Kurt Becker	G	9 solid seasons as offensive guard. Blocked for Walter Payton.
Keith Van Horne	T	13 seasons as a Bears tackle. Rock solid player. Blocked for Walter Payton.
Mike Singletary	LB	Hall of fame. Multiple winner of the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Top 100 nfl players of all time.
Ken Margerum	WR	1st Team All-NFL Rookie honors. Big part of the '85 Super Bowl season as a favorite target of McMahon.
Todd Bell	DB	Pro Bowl defensive back.

LOL, 1984 Mark Butkus. I remember that clown from my days in Champaign-Urbana. He and I shared the same watering holes on more than one occasion and shared some impaired conversations. The guy was a complete maroon and nothing like his Uncle, who still remains my own personal Bear God.

Jim Finks, is the Chicago Bears GM who built the 1985 Bears team through the draft. He is in the Hall of Fame. In all his years on the Chicago Bears, he NEVER missed on a 1st round draft pick. Never.

He was the guy who drafted Walter Payton - and a small army of Pro Bowl and Hall of Fame players for us.

He took a Bears team that was the laughing stock of the NFL and built a great team. The Bears teams back then were a real piece of crap to watch - butt ugly losses on Sundays. Those of you who watched those games will never forget how humiliating it was to watch the team lose, and lose, and lose. Jim Finks turned things around, and built the Chicago Bears into a championship team. He was not here for the '85 Super Bowl win, but make no mistake. The players that won that season were HIS.

If Finks had stayed with the team we would have won multiple Super Bowls. As much as I revere and love Mike Ditka, I understand that we won that Super Bowl due to the talent Finks provided, and not due to any genius by Mike. Mike really wasn't that great of a coach (I know, this is heresy to say), but people who know their football understand that Mike should have won more than that '85 Super Bowl considering the teams that he had to work with. He basically ran the New Orleans Saints team into the ground after he left the Bears. The Ricky Williams fiasco broke their back. He was 15-33 there before they fired him.

Finks was the best thing that ever happened to the Chicago Bears in their 90+ year history, other than Papa Bear himself. The man was a draft genius.

Jim Finks quit the Bears and Jerry Vainesi took over in August of 1983.

LINK to the article

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Jim Finks: Just What the Doctor Ordered

JIM FINKS

At a Bears game in 1973, George S. Halas, Jr., son of the franchise's legendary founder and a respected football executive in his own right, turned to his dad and said, "I am so sick of this!" By "this," the man known as Mugs meant the Bears' recent history of losing, which was about to extend to five consecutive sub-.500 seasons.

Thirty-seven years ago today, on September 13, 1974, the Halases did something about it. They hired the Bears' first general manager other than Papa Bear himself--and the man they chose for the job proved to be exactly what the doctor ordered.

He was Jim Finks, and he had just concluded a ten-year stint in a similar role with the Minnesota Vikings, which resulted in Super Bowl appearances after the 1969 and 1973 seasons and the NFL Executive of the Year award in '73.

The Bears opened the 1974 season two days after Finks was hired, with a team that did not yet have his fingerprints on it. They beat the Detroit Lions in the opener, but soon reverted to form and finished 4-10 (giving them a dismal record of 24-59 for the past five years).

Finks had spent the season evaluating the Bears' coaches and players, and he delivered his verdict shortly after clock ticked down on a season-ending 42-0 loss at Washington. Head coach Abe Gibron was sent packing, and so were a good many of his players. Jack Pardee took over as head coach, and Finks and his staff set about planning for the 1975 draft.

The first player that Finks drafted for the Bears, with the fourth overall pick in 1975, was the immortal Walter Payton. Long-time starters Mike Hartenstine, Virgil Livers, Revie Sorey, and Bob Avellini also were products of that same draft.

During his years with the Bears, Finks never missed on a first-round pick. After Payton, his other first-rounders were Dennis Lick, Ted Albrecht, Dan Hampton, Al Harris, Otis Wilson, and Keith Van Horne. One, Hampton, has joined Payton in the Hall of Fame, and the others were all starters for lengthy periods of time. (note: Singletary and Dent are also Hall of Famers he drafted, but in later rounds. But, he never drafted anyone who could jump out of a swimming pool, or drafted midgets.....that was Jerry Angelo's claim to fame).

Alas, neither Mugs Halas (who died in 1979) nor his dad (who died in 1983), was around to celebrate when Finks's rebuilding project culminated in the 1985 world championship. Finks saw his efforts come to fruition, but he was no longer employed by the Bears at the time. He had resigned in 1982 after Papa Bear hired head coach Mike Ditka without consulting him.

After his time with the Bears, Finks served briefly as president of the Cubs, then signed on as general manager of the New Orleans Saints, where he remained from 1986 until 1993. Finks narrowly lost out to Paul Tagliabue when NFL owners selected a new commissioner in 1989.

Finks was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1995, a year after he passed away at the age of 66. His contributions to the game of football and his reputation as both a brilliant executive and a gentleman live on.