Bob And His Beautiful Butkus Story
Have you ever listened to a story … and not fully heard it?
Fully, completely?
Ever watched a movie, read a book, or hummed along to a tune without fully understanding the entire scope, relevance, or meaning in that work of art?
That’s precisely what’s happened these past six weeks with a real-life friend. An honest-to-goodness BIG LITTLE LEGEND in his own right.
I’ve known Bob’s story for well over a decade. But it wasn’t until last week that I began to grasp its depth and implications; to comprehend why this story is so highly applicable and why it matters - especially if you happen to have a growing itch to discover Purpose and the true meaning of doing what you do.
You won’t discover Purpose through busywork, following influencers, psychotherapy or buying the latest Lamborghini. Finding your true Purpose isn’t carefully mapped out, planned and orchestrated.
Perhaps you’ve been chasing, wandering, or drifting. Never found a way to fully lean into your true Purpose. Maybe you find yourself stuck at yet another one of life’s crossroads and could use a little reminder in the form of a whisper.
Purpose emerges organically. Sometimes slowly. Something that grows, evolves, and materializes from the inside out.
If you are sincerely curious about finding your true Purpose, this epic tale of a former high school athlete who became an author, artist, and Emmy Award winner could be right up your exploration alley.
Legendary author Mark Twain was once quoted as saying, “The two most important days in life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
When Bob played high school football in his native British Columbia, finding his true Purpose was the last thing on his mind. He was far too busy raising hell on the gridiron and learning how to wield a mighty paintbrush. Raised by a military father during the tumultuous Woodstock era of the late 60’s, Bob soon realized that his twin passions for art and football were not winning any approval points at home. The former Korean War vet told his son that he needed to get serious about life. Not wanting to disappoint his father, it wasn’t long before Bob quit.
Quit the football team. Put down his paintbrush. Dropped out of school.
Followed Dad’s advice and entered the real world. Got a job. Got married. Got a mortgage. Put his passions on hold, raised four kids, and slugged his way through the daily grind called Life.
Fast forward to his mid-40’s. Bob is having a mid-life crisis. One that did not include a fiery red Italian sportscar or a new trophy wife. While surfing the midnight web, he stumbles upon memorabilia of his childhood hero, Chicago Bears infamous middle linebacker Dick Butkus.
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away”
PABLO PICASSO
Before there was Arnold, The Rock, Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin, there was Dick Butkus.
Part animal, part savage, the 6-foot-3, 245-pounder was the most feared of all the Monsters of the Midway. Terrorizing opponents like a Sherman tank wearing cleats, Butkus was the meanest, angriest, toughest, dirtiest S-O-B in all of football and a 10-second film clip from an NFL Films production sparked a life-long obsession from his biggest fan. Bob remembers exactly what he saw and felt.
***
Cold, windy, miserable December day in 1969. The 1-and-13 Bears getting hammered at home by the Green Bay Packers. Late in the 4th quarter, an irritated Butkus sat on the bench with bloody knuckles taped, his huge hands clasped together, absorbing the final, frustrating moments in the mud, the blood and the rain. There it was - a spectacle of motionless action! A moment of red, black and blue truth that no artist could resist. A few seconds of film captured a magical moment that told the story and created an enduring image that never left me."
***
Immediately jacked up and inspired, Bob spent hundreds of dollars on new paint supplies. Began capturing that iconic Butkus moment and many others on fresh canvas. He painted dozens of pieces before setting off on a journey to meet his hero. Bob thought it would be the ultimate dream come true if he could present one of his best creations man-to-man to The Man himself. On a movie set near Pittsburgh, Bob had a chance to sit down with the immortal Dick Butkus one-on-one and present him with his original portrait.
Worst 30 minutes of his life.
Not even the almighty Butkus could live up to the fantasy Bob had conjured up in his mind. Suffice to say that Bob didn’t exactly feel the love and respect was mutual from the gruff, unappreciative Hall-of-Fame linebacker. Thoroughly deflated, Bob spent the next several weeks wavering between depression, despair and serious self-doubt.
“What was I thinking? How could I expect Dick Butkus to admire my efforts and my art in the same way I admired him? Who am I to think he would even stop to consider how much I put into this pursuit. What does this whole stupid, hair-brained idea say about me? Has my whole life been a complete lie?”
Finding Your Butkus: A Journey of Audacity and Recognition
Several months passed and then Bob got another idea. An incredibly bold, audacious idea that grabbed hold and would not let go. He picked up a pen and composed a 4-page letter to Steve Sabol, the president of NFL Films. He wrote Sabol to say that he had always been a fan of his documentaries and related the ups and downs of the unlikely journey to meet his hero. He coined the phrase “Finding Your Butkus” as way to describe the adventure and what he had learned from the experience. He dashed off to the post office, mailed the letter and made peace that he had done everything he could think of to honour the ferocious Chicago defender that wore #51.
Never in a million years did Bob think Steve Sabol would read his own mail.
Never in his wildest dreams did he expect a phone call from a producer at NFL Films asking if they could capture Bob’s life story for an upcoming feature.
Nearly a year later and one day before his 51st birthday, Bob was flown to New York to stand beside the people at NFL Films and receive a 2008 Emmy Award for Outstanding Feature. You can watch the entire 12-minute segment here:
Making Moments Cherished Memories
The best of the Butkus story, however, never made it to air.
I only heard it last week when Bob was sharing his story with a business audience.
A day after being awarded the Emmy, Bob found himself in Steve Sabol’s New Jersey office. That’s when Bob discovered that Sabol was also a huge Butkus fan, but he wasn’t prepared for what the legendary filmmaker told him about that fateful day, December 14, 1969, as Butkus fumed on the Wrigley Field sidelines.
Bob remembers it like yesterday.
“Steve looks me in the eye and told me that when he got my letter, he immediately fell in love with the story, especially the part about grabbing a paintbrush and committing the “Bloody Hands” to canvas. Steve paused for a moment and then he let me in on the real story. He said, ‘Bob, when you were a kid in British Columbia and watching that scene on television, do you know who the cameraman on the sidelines was? It was me!”
Incredibly, Bob’s 4-page letter had reached the one man who saw the beauty in the moment - and captured it on film - when Butkus and the Bears were getting beaten and kicked around by the Packers and Mother Nature. Two artists separated by 39 years and 3,209 miles. The only two people on the planet who saw it as their role to make that moment a cherished memory; one that is still regarded among the most iconic pieces of footage ever produced by NFL Films.
“Musicians must make music, artists must paint, poets must write if they are ultimately to be at peace with themselves. What humans can be, they must be”
Abraham Maslow
As Bob now explains, “Finding Your Butkus wasn’t about a dream to meet some All-Pro linebacker. And it wasn’t really about the glory of NFL Films. It was about finding me and rediscovering what I first fell in love with as a kid. It’s about following what your heart already knows and not letting some well-intentioned parent, teacher or anyone else take you off course and waste 35 years being miserable and not being true to yourself. The more I tell the story, the more I realize there’s a lot to unpack, which includes the role played by the late Steve Sabol. He was that rare individual who took the time to see my gift, acknowledge it and fully appreciate it for what it was.
Sadly, the man who was described as the “Steven Spielberg of sports” passed away in 2012 at the age of 69 following a battle with brain cancer. But now Bob sees it as his mission to encourage people to be a metaphorical Steve Sabol for others; to help identify the hidden gifts we all have and allow that beauty to emerge, evolve and flourish.
“It’s something we all have within us. To look at someone else’s unconventional ideas, crazy dreams blue-sky hopes and be the person who offers a boost of support and reassurance. We all walk around with incredible self-doubt and things like imposter syndrome which is why it’s so liberating to come across that one person who can fully see you for what you are and still enjoy the view. Steve Sabol was a 35-time Emmy Award winner and member of the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame who still saw himself as an artist, a writer, a poet and one who always took time to notice the beauty in others”.
In the end, Bob Mueller isn’t seeking fame, fortune or a means to an end. He has no other agenda than to follow that persistent whisper that echoes inside all of us.
Every once in a while, we all need a reminder that we were placed on this earth to become our greatest selves, to live out our Purpose with courage and grace. In the final chapter of BIG LITTLE LEGENDS, it’s something described as The Authentic Swing; a metaphor elegantly described by the brilliant writer Steven Pressfield in The Legend of Bagger Vance.
Each one of us has an Authentic Swing. All you and I have to do is get out of our own way and let it find us. To find our Purpose, to squeeze the juice from our inherent gifts and be more of who we already are. But, figuring that out inevitably comes through the trials of the experience fire, the affirmation of others and rejecting the misguided messages of well-intentioned people that can kill our true selves and extinguish our inner flame.
Only you know if you are chasing a pension or your passion. Only you know if you are allowing the past to rob you of your future.
Only you know if you are on the road to finding your own Butkus.
“I never thought of what I was doing as a way to sell the NFL. I was making movies about a sport that I loved, about players and coaches that I respected. I wanted to convey my love of the game through film. And most artists convey their love through art. And my art and my love was expressed through film”
STEVE SABOL
p.s…. If you are curious, the cover photo of this post finds Bob Mueller flanked by fellow Emmy Award winners Kirsten Page and Neil Muro from West Shore Home. From the small town of Mechanicsburg, PA; Kirsten, Neil, and their production team are bringing stories like this one to the world.
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