Former Bears Jimbo Covert and Ed Sprinkle selected to Hall of Fame

The “Welcome, rookie” moment is a rite of passage in the NFL. But Bears offensive tackle Jimbo Covert did some welcoming of his own as a rookie in 1983.

“We used to practice over at [old] Halas Hall and on that south field it was hot and back then we were beatin’ the hell out of each other,” Bears Hall of Fame defensive end Dan Hampton recalled.

“There was a play that I found out later was a tackle-trap. They trapped [defensive tackle] Jim Osborne. And I heard him kind of scream during a play and afterwards we were on the sideline and I went up to him and said, ‘Are you OK?’ He said, ‘Dude, I’ve been in this league 13 years and I’ve never been hit like that.

“And we all kind of looked over at Covert — I used to raise cattle and … he was one of those bulls you look at and say, ‘I ain’t messin’ with him. That was Jimbo Covert. He was a guy you didn’t want to mess with.”

That might be the ultimate praise on a team that enjoyed beating the crap out of each other in practice and opponents on Sundays in the glory days of the Mike Ditka era. But after years of waiting for the ultimate NFL recognition following a stellar eight-year career from 1983-90 that was shortened by a back injury, Covert finally achieved football immortality Wednesday when he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Covert joined another former Bears great, defensive end Ed Sprinkle, and former Chicago Cardinals lineman Duke Slater among 10 seniors (players whose career ended more than 25 years ago) who will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame in August and September ceremonies in Canton, Ohio as part of the Centennial Class in conjunction with the celebration of the NFL’s 100th season.

Covert and Sprinkle are the 29th and 30th members of the Bears organization to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Covert is the fifth player from the 1985 Super Bowl championship team to make it — following running back Walter Payton (1993), linebacker Mike Singletary (1998), Hampton (2002) and defensive end Richard Dent (2011).

The Centennial Class, which also includes coaches Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson and three contributors, was chosen by a “blue-ribbon panel” that included Patriots coach Bill Belichick, former Raiders coach John Madden, former Packers GM Ron Wolf, former Bills/Colts GM Bill Polian and former Cowboys vice-president of player personnel Gil Brandt.

Covert was at the head of the Bears’ renowned 1983 draft class that produced seven starters on the 1985 Super Bowl championship team — taken sixth overall from Pitt, where he played for famed line coach Joe Moore and with quarterback Dan Marino. Covert was a Week 1 starter as a rookie and quickly established himself as one of the best tackles in the game.

“Jimbo was young, powerful and athletic,” Hampton said. “It wasn’t like it took him a year or two to figure it out. The day he showed up, they started him at left tackle and he was the best player on the offensive line — the first day. How often do you see that?”

He missed only one game in his first four seasons and made the All-Pro team in 1985 and 1986. But after playing through a hyperextended left elbow in 1986, injuries began to take a toll. Covert had surgery on his knees three times, his shoulders twice, his elbow and his back twice. Through all that, he still played in 53-of-65 games in 1987-90 and was always there when it counted — Covert started in all 11 playoff games the Bears played from 1984-90.

But despite the injuries, Covert’s play was almost always at an elite level. In what would be his final season after all those injuries, Covert started 15 games in 1990 and never was called for holding as the Bears finished second in the NFL in rushing. In fact, the Bears, who were 18th in rushing the year before Covert arrived, ranked in the top three in rushing in every non-strike season Covert played. They not only led the league in rushing in 1983-86, but also were third (1988), second (1989) and second (1990) after Payton retired.

Covert’s excellence was recognized by coaches, teammates, personnel executives and opponents. He was chosen the the NFL’s “Team of the ‘80s” by the Hall of Fame committee. Bill Tobin, then the Bears’ vice-president of player personnel, called Covert the best left tackle he had seen in 27 years of scouting, when Covert retired in 1992. A toast from offensive line coach Dick Stanfel at Covert’s retirement press conference was typical:

“I have been coaching 29 years, and I was a player eight years, and if I ever had to pick an all-star team, my left tackle would be Jim Covert,” Stanfel said.

Said Ditka that day: “I don’t think the Bears ever had anyone play left tackle as good as Jim has.”

In 1991, Covert suffered a ruptured disk in his back early in training camp and missed the entire season following another surgery. After an attempt at rehab, doctors made it clear his career was over. “I would never have passed a physical,” Covert said. “I really didn’t have a choice.”

When he officially retired on March 23, 1992, the Bears held a press conference at Soldier Field that included a video tribute befitting an all-time great player in Bears history. Finally, Covert officially will go down as an all-time great in NFL history as well.

“Not only was he a terrific player in all regards — practice, preparation [and] as a teammate he was exemplary in all those ways,” Hampton said. “But he also had play against the best players — Charles Mann, Dexter Manley, Lawrence Taylor, Jack Youngblood. As an offensive coach ... you didn’t have to worry about him because he had the ability to raise his game. I couldn’t be happier. Jimbo dominated that position.”

Sprinkle was a fierce pass rusher — called “the meanest man in football” by Collier’s magazine in 1950 — who played his entire 12-year career with the Bears from 1944-55. He sas named to the NFL’s all-decade team for the 1940s.

He is the fifth player from the 1946 NFL championship team to be selected to the Hall of Fame — following quarterback Sid Luckman (1965), lineman Danny Fortmann (1965), running back George McAfee (1966) and lineman George Musso (1982).

Sprinkle was nicknamed “The Claw” for his clothesline tackles that would be illegal today. “I never really played dirty football in my life,” he once said. “But I’d knock the hell out of a guy if I got the chance.”

Slater, the first African-American lineman in the NFL, was a seven-time All-Pro who played right tackle for the Cardinals from 1926-31. He was a Cook County circuit court judge from 1948 until his death at 67 in 1966.

The other members of the Centennial Class are:

COACHES

• Bill Cowher – 1992-2006 Pittsburgh Steelers
• Jimmy Johnson – 1989-1993 Dallas Cowboys, 1996-99 Miami Dolphins

CONTRIBUTORS

• Steve Sabol, Administrator/President – 1964-2012 NFL Films
• Paul Tagliabue, Commissioner – 1989-2006 National Football League
• George Young, Contributor/General Manager – 1968-1974 Baltimore Colts, 1975-78 Miami Dolphins, 1979-1997 New York Giants, 1998-2001 National Football League

SENIORS

• Harold Carmichael, WR – 1971-1983 Philadelphia Eagles, 1984 Dallas Cowboys
• Bobby Dillon, S – 1952-59 Green Bay Packers
• Cliff Harris, S – 1970-79 Dallas Cowboys
• Winston Hill, T – 1963-1976 New York Jets, 1977 Los Angeles Rams
• Alex Karras, DT – 1958-1962, 1964-1970 Detroit Lions
• Donnie Shell, S – 1974-1987 Pittsburgh Steelers
• Duke Slater, T – 1922 Milwaukee Badgers, 1922-25 Rock Island Independents, 1926-1931 Chicago Cardinals
• Mac Speedie, E – 1946-1952 Cleveland Browns [AAFC/NFL]