Doug Atkins, one of greatest players and all-around characters in NFL history, died on Wednesday in Knoxville, Tenn., at the age of 85.
Atkins, enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982, had his number 81 retired by both the Bears and New Orleans Saints, to whom Atkins was traded in 1967 and played the final three years of his career.
“Doug Atkins is an all-time great who will be remembered as one of the pillars of the 1963 championship Bears,” chairman George McCaskey said in a statement. “He had a freakish combination of size and athletic ability and was as tough as anyone who ever stepped on a football field.