Super Bowl reshuffle
A look back at the ditty the '85 Bears taped before going on to win Super Bowl XX
When the 1985 Bears headlined Super Bowl XX, the NFL was still evolving into the slick television spectacular it is today. And the Bears' 1985 rap hit "Super Bowl Shuffle" certainly didn't stand out because of any slick musical attributes. It is memorable because of its cast of surprising characters -- actual Chicago Bears players, including William "The Refrigerator" Perry, Walter "Sweetness" Payton and Otis Wilson -- gave us a first glimpse of personality off the field.
Now everyone in the NFL thinks they're characters. Just look back at the Saints' Reggie Bush somersaulting in the end zone during the NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field. Bush is a rookie. The 1985 Bears were deemed colorful because quarterback Jim McMahon wore a headband. How old school.
"We weren't pre-packaged," said Bears safety Gary Fencik, who sang on the "Super Bowl Shuffle" and appeared in the video. "There wasn't sports radio [back then]. There wasn't 'NFL Today' and ESPN to the degree you see now. We weren't crowded out by the plethora of sports you see today. The 'Super Bowl Shuffle' was one of the first things that started to widen viewership of NFL games. It wasn't just what we were doing on the field but an image off the field, as well."
Gault recruited his teammates to participate in the shuffle. Fencik, Payton, Wilson, linebacker Mike Singletary and backup quarterback Steve Fuller took lead roles. McMahon first declined but later agreed. All the Bears were asked to appear in the background of the video shoot, which took place at Park West. The 14 who accepted were Maury Buford, Mike Tomczak, Thomas Sanders, Leslie Frazier, Shaun Gayle, Dennis Gentry, Ken Taylor, Calvin Thomas, Reggie Phillips, Jim Morrissey, Dan Rains, Stefan Humphries, Mitch Krenk and Tyrone Keys. McMahon was superimposed into the video, as was Payton, who was hurt at the time of the original taping. Players who did not have singing parts were not paid for the project.
"It was superstition," Hampton said. "If my horse is in the lead at the Kentucky Derby, I'm not the type of guy that's going to be screaming, 'Yeah!' until the horse comes in. [Bears head coach Mike] Ditka kept preaching to stay the course. It just didn't feel right. And in a bizarre way [our refusal] fit us. We were the blue collar wreckers on the team. The song was more for the glamorous positions; the quarterback, Walter [Payton] and others."
Gayle, a cornerback for the '85 Bears added, "Credit has to go to Mike Ditka, the coaching staff and the internal leadership. With that many dispositions and characters, it is difficult to get everyone looking in the same direction at the same time. That attitude almost increased the feeling to be different, to express ourselves to the limit." Today Gayle is an NFL analyst for Sky Sports in London.
"The players were chanting limericks," said Breitberg, who spent five years as staff engineer at Curtis Mayfield's Curtom studios. "Nobody really sang. They all had great personalities that lent itself to the charm of each verse. Stuff today is mean and gruff, a lot about attitude. It's not coming from necessarily positive places. The 'Super Bowl Shuffle' was a positive and entertaining entity."
Fencik doesn't recall there being loud music in the locker room, as there is today. "I don't even know if we had a stereo," said Fencik, now a partner in a Chicago private equity firm. "I know my musical tastes weren't close to anything that resembled 'The Super Bowl Shuffle.' "
Hampton is a country music fan from Arkansas. "Ditka didn't want music around," he added. "Even though Walter [Payton] had a boom box at his locker, it was so small you could barely hear it. We were blaring stuff like Bruce Springsteen in training camp, where you get taped up before practice. I've heard stories of [former Cub] Sammy Sosa blaring his crap, but we were like a union shop as far as getting work done." Today Hampton is a football analyst for WGN Radio and owns security businesses for Chicago area banks.
There was talk of a 20th anniversary shuffle during the 2005 celebration of the Super Bowl champs, but the players could not come to agreement with Meyer's widow, Julia. She appeared in the shuffle video as a referee blowing a whistle as a bleep for the word "ass."
"At the time, we didn't notice it, but Steve and I were the two white guys in the front," Fencik said. "I've heard 'You didn't dance well, but at least you were better than Fuller.' But Steve had an ankle injury. He was on crutches. We were getting ready to go onstage at the Park West and the director said, 'Steve, those crutches don't make it.' So they took away his crutches, and when you watch, all he is doing is taking one step in and one step out with the good leg. When people say I dance better than Steve, they're damning me with faint praise."