Richard Marvin Butkus was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of eight children, but the first to be born in a hospital. He was a large baby, weighing 13 pounds 6 ounces (6.1 kg) at birth. His father John, a Lithuanian immigrant to Ellis Island who spoke broken English, was an electrician and worked for the Pullman-Standard railroad company. His mother Emma worked 50 hours a week in a laundry.
Succeeding Hall of Famer Bill George at middle linebacker, Butkus made an immediate impact as a rookie. He established himself as a ball hawk by intercepting five passes and recovering seven opponents' fumbles, and he was also credited unofficially with having forced six fumbles. Against the New York Giants on November 28, he intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble, and was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Week by the AP for the first of four times in his career. He finished third in balloting for the AP's rookie of the year award, behind Sayers and Ken Willard of the San Francisco 49ers, with AP sportswriter Jack Hand remarking that Butkus would have certainly won if there was a separate award for defenders. He was named a first-team All-Pro by the AP and was invited to his first of eight straight Pro Bowls. In 1966, Butkus was named the second-team middle linebacker on the All-Pro teams of the AP, UPI, Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), and New York Daily News, with each selector placing him behind Ray Nitschke of the Green Bay Packers. He reclaimed the first-team spot on the UPI and NEA teams in 1967, the AP team in 1968, and the Daily News team in 1969, all of which he occupied through the 1970 season. Butkus scored the first points of his career on November 9, 1969, when he tackled Steelers quarterback Dick Shiner in the end zone for a safety. He also recorded 25 tackles in the game, and for his efforts was recognized as the NFL Defensive Player of the Week by the AP. That 38-7 win for the Bears was their only one of the season; they finished with a 1-13 record, which was the worst in franchise history. Additionally, Butkus' five-year contract had reached its end. A number of Bears players, including Butkus, expressed interest in being traded or cut by the team, but he signed a multi-year contract extension prior to the 1970 season to remain in Chicago. The contract raised his salary from $50,000 per year to nearly $100,000 per year. Despite the ineptitude of the Bears as a team, Butkus developed a reputation around the league as one of its best players. In both 1969 and 1970, he was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the NEA, which was voted on by NFL players. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in September 1970 with the caption, "The Most Feared Man in the Game". A panel of NFL coaches that year named Butkus the player they would most prefer to start a team with if they were building one from the ground up.

Q: What occurred in 1965?
A: Succeeding Hall of Famer Bill George at middle linebacker, Butkus made an immediate impact as a rookie.

Q: what team was he with?
A: That 38-7 win for the Bears was their only one of the season; they finished with a 1-13 record, which was the worst in franchise history.
what was his position?
middle linebacker middle linebacker middle linebacker, second-team middle linebacker middle linebacker,
middle linebacker,