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.
Grabowskis here hail Bears’ win as personal triumph
Lloyd Green
Originally published Jan. 28, 1986
Of all the millions of happy Chicagoans, there were none happier yesterday than the Grabowskis.
Because it was the Grabowskis – any Grabowskis – to whom coach Mike Ditka compared the victorious Bears.
“Sure, it was a personal victory for us Grabowskis,” declared Adam Grabowski, 66, a retired baker. “We really showed those New England Patriots, didn’t we?”
But Grabowski, of the Northwest Side, said he doubted there were any Grabowskis at yesterday’s frigid parade and victory celebration.
“We Grabowskis are tough, but we’re also smart,” he said. “We’re too smart to go outside in weather like this.”
Still, at least one Grabowski did show up for the “Bears Plaza” celebration. Jim Grabowski, who played with the Bears briefly after several seasons with the Green Bay Packers, couldn’t resist joining in.
Ditka touched off Grabowski fever here just before the Bears’ defeat of the Los Angeles Rams.
Said Ditka, “There are teams that are fair-haired and there are teams that aren’t. There are teams named Smith and teams named Grabowski. The Rams are a Smith; we’re a Grabowski.”
One of the largest contingents of “adopted” Grabowskis is the 3rd and 4th grade class at Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary School, North and Monticello.
Although none of the 30 students is named Grabowski, their teacher is Pat Grabowski, and she’s been preaching the Grabowski gospel to them ever since Ditka’s remark.
To show their loyalty, they decorated classroom windows with a large sign saying, “The Grabowskis will win Super Bowl XX.”
And yesterday, after wiggling into class to a recording of “The Super Bowl Shuffle,” they quickly changed their sign to read, “The Grabowskis won Super Bowl XX.”
One of the most optimistic Bears fans is Francis Grabowski of the Southwest Side, a former International Harvester worker.
“The thing to remember,” he said, “is that it’s still, `Go, Bears, go!’ We Grabowskis will win again next year.”
