Sarley: Bears stories will take the place of fish stories this week
If you haven’t read enough about the prospective Bears draft choices on these pages, I’ll throw my pick to Tyler Warren, the Penn State tight end.
I know I said I’d finish the story about the most memorable fish I ever caught, but with the NFL draft this week, I couldn’t resist sharing this story. I’ll come back to the fish story next week.
You all know that I particularly love to interview pro athletes who are fans of hunting and fishing, and I have a few Chicago Bears who have made it to my list. I talked hunting with the late Doug Buffone, the star linebacker who had a passion for deer hunting. Former defensive coordinator Greg Blache gave me a great interview where he told me about hunting ferocious Texas wild boars with a handgun.
Do you remember linebacker Willie Young, the guy who did a dance that showed him setting a hook and reeling in a whopper when he sacked a quarterback? Willie was a great interview subject and he actually told me: “Man, you’re a harder interviewer than any of those football writers. I’m glad I don’t have to talk to you every day.”
I met the legendary Gale Sayers at the grand opening of the Bolingbrook Bass Pro Shops store in 2007. I’ll admit that I was too intimidated to introduce myself. Sayers was not a person that looked happy. He wore a scowl most of the time. He scared me, to be honest.
I chickened out and walked up to his beautiful wife, Ardythe, and asked her if Gale was a fisherman. She said he was but not as big a fisherman as she was. I asked her if the two of them would be interested in joining me for a day on the Fox Chain. She tapped Gale’s arm and asked him if he'd be willing. He said, “Can we catch some of those walleyes to bring home for her to cook us for dinner?”
We shook on it. One of the biggest disappointments in my life was never hooking up with Mr. and Mrs. Sayers for a fishing trip. I could never work out the dates and it was always my fault. I missed out on what would have been one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Shame on me.
My favorite Chicago Bears/outdoors story was the time I went hunting for chukar partridges with Bears backup running back Brock Forsey. We booked a day at Lick Skillet Hunting Club in Armington, Illinois, in the central part of the state. We booked it on a Monday, an off-day. I knew Forsey was a serious outdoorsman to make a date on his only off-day from a tedious practice schedule and have to leave for the club and take a very long drive to get there.
Forsey was a third-string running back who had been drafted in the sixth round and had barely been on the field yet that year. Lo and behold, the two backs ahead of him both had come up lame in the game the prior week, and Forsey would be getting the nod to start the upcoming Sunday game, just six days after our hunting outing.
We had a good day afield and bagged our limit of wily partridges. Forsey was a good guy, a good hunter and a pleasure to spend time with. I learned my lesson about always keeping my safety engaged when I slipped and fell on a sharp, wet slope and ended up on my ample posterior.
Fortunately, my safety was on and my Browning did not go off. Could you imagine the sports pages featuring an article headlined, “Outdoors writer shoots Bears’ running back?”
Talk about a Cinderella story. Forsey experienced his best game as a pro on Nov. 30 against the Arizona Cardinals, filling in for starter Anthony Thomas, who had viral pneumonia. Against Arizona, Forsey carried the ball 27 times for 134 yards and a touchdown. He also caught two passes for 27 yards as the Bears went on to win 28-3. It was the greatest professional football game in Forsey’s short career.
Anyway, I truly hope that our Chicago Bears first-round draft choice for this season turns out to be a perennial all-pro in the NFL and leads us to a Super Bowl or two. It will be even sweeter if that player is also a hunter or fisherman.
• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at sarfishing@yahoo.com.