1985 Bears Coverage: Icemen cometh into vogue in NFL

Every day of the 2015 Chicago Bears season, Chicago Sun-Times Sports will revisit its coverage 30 years ago during the 1985 Bears’ run to a Super Bowl title.

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Icemen cometh into vogue in NFL

Marla Paul; Ray Hanania; Lynn Sweet; Robert Feder

Originally published Aug. 15, 1985

“We don’t have any appliances on our team,” said Tampa Bay Buccaneers spokesman John Gerdes apologetically. But others have been plugging in ever since the Bears’ massive William “The Refrigerator” Perry gained the public’s affections at 330 pounds.

Now meet Tim “Icebox” Newton, a rookie, formerly 302-pound (now down to 290) tackle for the Minnesota Vikings. In fact, Icebox and Refrigerator are old friends. They roomed together at the NFL

pro-scouting session in Arizona last spring. “I’ve never seen anybody eat like that,” Newton said of Perry. “He said he didn’t like the food there but he kept eating it. Say hello to William for me.”

Hello, William.

For a moment there was Morris “The Freezer” Johnson, a 6-foot-2-inch, 317-pound guard from Alabama A & M. He’s since been cut (or should we say defrosted?) from the Green Bay Packers.

Not to be outdone, the Detroit Lions came up with a 6-foot-1-inch, 325-pound rookie from Georgia, Mike “The Big Chill” Weaver.

All we need is a toaster.