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Andy Livingston (48) returns a kickoff against the Vikings.

Sun-Times

No short-term memories of Bears long shots

Even though they weren’t draft-day stars, these players made major impacts with Bears

Andy Livingston: second fiddle in ’65

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Andy Livingston

Sun-Times

Before there was Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo, there was Gale Sayers and Andy Livingston. 

The two running backs looked like the backfield of the future for the Bears in 1965. Sayers was the fourth overall pick of the draft. The 6-1, 230-pound Livingston was a second-year player from Mesa, Arizona, who signed at 19 in 1964 without having played college football. He spent most of the year on the taxi squad, but was activated late in the season and in his second game returned a kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown against the Vikings — less than two months after his 20th birthday. 

While Sayers was a sensation as a rookie in 1965, Livingston’s power and speed — he was a track athlete who ran a 9.6 100-yard dash — made him a particularly intriguing complement. Livingston averaged 5.8 yards per carry as a rookie (63 carries, 363 yards, two touchdowns). In a 17-10 victory over the Lions at Tiger Stadium, Sayers gained 60 yards on 10 carries, and Livingston rushed for 90 yards on 11. 

But while Livingston’s flame burned bright, it did not burn long. He missed the 1966 season with a knee injury and most of the 1968 season after a falling out with coach Jim Dooley. The Bears traded Livingston to the Saints — and he made the Pro Bowl in 1969 with 1,039 total yards (761 rushing, 278 passing) and unwittingly dealt his old team a crushing blow. His three-yard touchdown with 56 seconds left in the season finale against the Steelers gave the Saints a 27-24 victory and pushed the Steelers into a coin flip for the No. 1 overall pick in the 1970 draft. 

Ed McCaskey called heads. It came up tails. The Steelers drafted Terry Bradshaw. And the rest . . . is history.


Top 10: undrafted free agents

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Jay Hilgenberg

Sun-Times

1. Jay Hilgenberg, C, Iowa, 1981 — Started as a long snapper and became a seven-time Pro Bowl center. Missed only two games (out of 144) in nine seasons after he became a starter in 1983.

2. Ed Sprinkle, E/DE, Hardin-Simmons, 1944 — Set the standard for menacing defensive play; nicknamed “The Claw” for his (then-legal) clothesline tackles. Scored seven touchdowns as a pass-catching end on offense. 

3. Rosey Taylor, CB, Grambling, 1961 — Two-time Pro Bowl player who had nine interceptions and three fumble recoveries for the 1963 NFL champs. Scored six touchdowns on defense/special teams in nine seasons.

4. Dennis McKinnon, WR/KR Florida State, 1983 — Unheralded member of the 1983 rookie class who averaged 17.9 yards per catch with seven touchdowns for the ’85 Super Bowl champions.

5. James “Big Cat” Williams, DT/OT, Cheyney (Pa.), 1991 — A defensive tackle as a rookie, Williams became a nine-year starter at right tackle, making the Pro Bowl in 2001. 

6. Leslie Frazier, CB, Alcorn State, 1981 — Had 20 interceptions in 49 starts. His 29-yard return for a touchdown sparked the comeback victory against the Buccaneers that kicked off the 1985 season. 

7. Ray Nolting, RB, Cincinnati, 1936 — Signed after the first NFL draft, Nolting’s 2,293 yards ranked second behind Bronko Nagurski on the Bears’ all-time rushing list when he retired in 1943. 

8. Tom Waddle, WR, Boston College, 1989 — Gritty, gutty, lunch-pail wideout is tied for 48th on the Bears’ all-time list with nine receiving touchdowns — one behind Hall of Famer Red Grange. 

9. Brian Piccolo, RB, Wake Forest, 1965 — From the taxi squad as a rookie, Piccolo started for the injured Gale Sayers in 1968 — rushed for 112 yards on 21 carries in a win over the Saints. 

10. Israel Idonije, DE, Manitoba, 2004 — Special-teams standout with eight blocked kicks. Had eight sacks, four forced fumbles in 2010, when the Bears reached the NFC Championship Game.


Brian Piccolo: from taxi squad to beloved Bear

An undrafted free agent from Wake Forest who spent his rookie season on the taxi squad, Brian Piccolo’s uplifting story turned tragic in 1969 when he was diagnosed with cancer after being hospitalized following a loss to the Falcons on Nov. 16, 1969. 

But his sense of humor and courage throughout that futile fight — even when the Bears lost the final five games of the 1969 season without him — further endeared him to his teammates.

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Brian Piccolo (41) slips past Vikings tacklers in a game in 1967.

AP

‘‘We were playing a game when he was in the hospital,” former Bears linebacker Doug Buffone reminisced years ago, “and we all got together and said, ‘Let’s get this one for Brian.’ And we lost the game. We go to the hospital and Brian said, ‘Where’s the win? Can’t you guys do anything right?’

‘‘Not that we were a good team, but you would think you could rise to the occasion that one time. That’s why it was funny [at the hospital]. Brian took the edge off it. That’s the kind of guy he was.’’

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Brian Piccolo’s 1969 press guide biography notes his only 100-yard game in the NFL — a 21-carry, 112-yard effort in a 23-17 victory against the Saints in 1968.


Roland Harper: More than just Walter Payton’s caddy

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Walter Payton (left) is congratulated by teammate Roland Harper after Payton set the single-game rushing record of 275 yards against the Vikings on Nov. 20, 1977, at Soldier Field.

Sun-Times

Bears fullback Roland Harper wasn’t an undrafted free agent coming out of Louisiana Tech in 1975, but only because of the massive 442-player NFL draft of the early 1970s. Harper was taken 420th overall by the Bears — the same year they drafted Walter Payton fourth overall. 

Harper not only made the team but became a productive complement to Payton. In 1978, they nearly became only the third duo in NFL history to each rush for over 1,000 yards. Payton gained 1,395 yards. Harper rushed for 992 — falling eight yards short when he gained 74 yards on 22 carries in a victory over the Redskins in the season finale. 

Payton (50 receptions, 480 yards) and Harper (43-340, two touchdowns) also were excellent pass catchers. They combined for 3,207 yards from scrimmage in 1978 — an unbelievable 71.9 percent of the Bears’ total that season. (The Packers, with running back Terdell Middleton and wide receiver James Lofton’s combined 2,279 yards, were next at 55.5 percent. The league average was 43.6 percent for the top two players.)

Harper had a productive five seasons as a starting fullback with the Bears before yielding to Matt Suhey in 1981. He retired as the fourth-leading rusher in Bears history (3,044 yards) after suffering a neck injury in 1982. But his legacy as Payton’s effective, complementary fullback is forever burnished in Bears history. 

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Rookie Roland Harper, the 420th player picked in the 1975 NFL Draft, was the subject of this Sun-Times story (below) in 1975: “I think I have as good a chance to make this team as anybody else,” he said.


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Bears Scrapbook in the Dec. 7 print edition of Sports Saturday.

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