Remembering Dick Butkus

The passing of Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus on Oct. 5 left me deeply saddened. It also revived memories of an experience that intertwined our careers, even though we never met.

It was mid-1984 in Cleveland, and my boss at Burson-Marsteller, Carol Schumacher, dropped a paper on my desk. We had engineered a partnership between Wendy’s and the National Football League that allowed scratch-off tickets to be distributed nationwide at restaurants. If your ticket had the matching team helmets from the Monday Night Football game, you were eligible to win cash and “Where’s the Beef?” merchandise. We wanted to pair Clara Peller with an NFL player to announce the winners in a commercial spot that would air at halftime during the games. The list that Carol passed on to me contained the names of former NFL players who were available for this type of work.

“Which one of these players would be the best spokesperson for this contest?” she asked.

I remember the first two names on the list of about 15 former players: Joe Namath and Len Dawson. I wish I could recall all of them. But further down the list was former Chicago Bear, Dick Butkus. He was the clear choice.

Butkus was 6’3” and 245. Clara was 4’10” and weighed slightly more than a gallon of milk.

Butkus was the most intimidating player ever on the gridiron. Clara was the most intimidating customer at fast food restaurants.

Butkus played in Chicago. Clara lived in Chicago. “Where’s the Beef?” commercial director Josef Sedelmaier would shoot the commercials in his Chicago studio.

Butkus’ price was right. Clara was priceless.

That was how Dick Butkus was paired with Clara Peller to promote Wendy’s hamburgers. The deal was arranged through his agent and I was not present at the closed-studio commercial shoot. I never had the opportunity to meet or speak with Mr. Butkus, one of my football heroes. As memory serves, the chemistry on set between Butkus and Peller was great. But the filming did not happen without a hitch.

While the height difference was striking, Sedelmaier could not fit them both in frame. Clara had to stand on a platform to get them both on camera. The $30-million licensing campaign extended the reach and success of the iconic “Where’s the Beef?” slogan. As a young account executive at the start of his lengthy public relations career, it was a thrill to be an arms-length away from one of pro football’s greatest players.  

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