From Bill Wade to Jay Cutler, Vandy Dandy Takes Chicago

Filed under: Chicago Bears, Packers, NFL Playoffs

NASHVILLE -- Bill Wade, the only Vanderbilt quarterback to ever win an NFL championship with the Chicago Bears, sits in the atrium of an elder care facility in suburban Nashville. It's a cold morning in January, the night before nearly two inches of snow fell on the city, but today the sun is shining and glinting brightly off the snowfall.

Nearly 60 years ago, Wade was the No.1 pick in the 1952 NFL Draft. Today, he is nearly blind, having begun to lose his eyesight due to glaucoma eight or nine years ago, a large, proud man in a wheelchair, clinging tightly to his love for the Chicago Bears.

Wade's 80 and it's been over 47 years since he scored two rushing touchdowns to claim a 14-10 NFL championship for the Bears over the New York Giants. That 1963 title is one of only two championships the Bears have won since 1947. Now it's the Friday before the NFC Championship Game, when another Vanderbilt quarterback, Jay Cutler, will lead the Chicago Bears against the arch-rival Green Bay Packers with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

Wearing a white button-down shirt with a Chicago Bears tie and a navy blue Chicago Bears baseball cap, Wade has lost none of the fiery passion that epitomizes one of the NFL's oldest rivalries. "Well," Wade says when asked about the Green Bay Packers, "they have a good football team, but we always have a better one."

 

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Source: http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2011/01/22/from-bill-wade-to-jay-cutler-vandy-dandy-takes-chicago/

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