Bears lose ‘The Legend’ due to the death of Clyde Emrich

The bears have not only lost a legend; they lost “The Legend”.

That was the well-deserved nickname of Clyde Emrich, a pioneering strength coach with the organization that began in the early 1970s and who passed away Wednesday at age 90.

Emrich, the longest-serving full-time employee, worked for the Bears for 50 years. He became one of the NFL’s first strength coaches when George Halas hired him in 1971 and remained with the team until his death.

While Emrich last served as the Bears’ strength coach in 1991, in 2008 the team named the weight room in Halas Hall after him and he continued to provide strength training tips to players. He worked in an administrative capacity with the Bears for the past three decades, taking on a variety of responsibilities. Emrich had also been a training camp coordinator since 1984, a role he shared with Bear’s vice president and longtime friend Brian McCaskey.

“I had the privilege of working with Clyde for nearly 40 years,” said McCaskey. “He was a wonderful mentor to me and many others and was highly respected by everyone in the Bears family and throughout the league. Clyde revolutionized the way teams trained for an NFL season. He shared his knowledge and expertise with athletes from all over the world.” all walks of life and at all levels. Clyde would always say, ‘Give me an athlete, and I’ll make them an even better athlete by making them stronger.’

“One of the things that makes Clyde’s story so unique is that he was self-taught. As skilled as Clyde was, he was driven to be the best at his craft. A ‘legend’ in every way, he was a great friend to many. He is irreplaceable and will be missed by all who knew him.”

Before being hired by the Bears, Emrich had worked with several of the team’s players, most notably Hall of Famers Stan Jones and Doug Atkins at the Irving Park YMCA in Chicago. Emrich’s first official contact with the Bears came before the 1963 season when he met Halas to discuss isometric resistance training, a revolutionary concept at the time.

Emrich joined the Bears with impressive credentials. During a competitive weightlifting career that lasted 21 years, he competed in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, won a bronze medal at the 1954 World Championships in Vienna, Austria, captured a silver medal at the 1955 World Championships in Munich, Germany , and won a title at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago.

Emrich won four national titles and in 1957 became the world’s first man under 200 pounds to clean and pull 400 pounds. Unlike many of his competitors, Emrich never worked with a coach or trainer. He started weightlifting in 1946 as a 15-year-old who was 6 feet tall and weighed 110 pounds, training at home using homemade cans of sand and cement and cable box expanders.

Emrich is a member of the USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame, the Illinois State Weightlifting Hall of Fame, the USA Strength Coach Hall of Fame, and the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame.

Tom Thayer, who played guard for the Bears from 1985-92, was close friends with Emrich for over three decades. The two first met when Thayer was a 14-year-old Bears fan growing up in Joliet. He and a friend got lost on their way to Lake Forest to watch the bears exercise and stopped at a gas station not far from Halas Hall to ask for directions.

“Clyde was out there filling up a company station wagon the Bears had,” Thayer said. “The man I was with says, ‘You know who that is? That’s Clyde Emrich. That man is a legend!'”

Thayer and his friend, who happened to be the younger brother of Rudy Ruettige, the younger brother of Notre Dame, asked Emrich to help them get to Halas Hall, and Emrich told them to follow him.

Years later, when Thayer joined the Bears, he said Emrich helped him transition “from a weightlifter to an athlete who lifted weights,” adding that “he was always there to promote you to be a better you.” to be.”

And it wasn’t just Hall of Famers. Thayer appreciated how Emrich treated all players equally.

“He was always so honest,” Thayer said. “It didn’t matter if you were a first-rounder or a free agent who didn’t have a chance. He always had the same interest in you to make sure he would help you improve. That was just the great thing about him. You can go back and talk to everyone, whether it’s Dan Hampton or Jim Morrissey, in his eyes they were both the same.”

Former safety Doug Plank credits Emrich with enhancing a playing career with the Bears that lasted from 1975-82.

“He did so much for me, just lifting weights, improving my strength,” said Plank, a day 1 rookie starter after being selected by the Bears in the 12th round of the 1975 Ohio state draft. “If you’re stronger, you’re less likely to get injured. Your recovery is faster.”

Plank spent his offseasons in the Bears weight room working with Emrich.

“I saw Clyde every day off-season,” Plank said. “He taught me weightlifting. It really helped me become a much better player. I had aggressive tendencies and Clyde steered that in the right direction and really helped me get stronger.

“I didn’t think weightlifting was much fun until I met Clyde. He definitely made an impact on my life and how I played. From the moment I stepped on that field I knew I had done everything I could on the areas of lifting weights and training to prepare for a competition.”

Visiting will be from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Monday, November 15 at Burnett-Dane Funeral Home, located at 120 W. Park Ave. (Rte. 176 one block west of Milwaukee Ave.) in Libertyville. The funeral service will be Tuesday, November 16 at 11:00 AM at St. Joseph Church, located at 121 E. Maple Drive in Libertyville. Commemorative donations can be made to Team USA Weightlifting at: www.teamusa.org. For more information, to share a memory or to leave a condolence, visit www.burnettdane.com/obituaries/Clyde-Emrich/.