Otis Wilson
… and that’s not a bad thing. We have the greatest reverence for the Bears of Ditka and Buddy, the marauding, run-stopping, woofing butchers who trampled and emasculated everything in their path to the Super Bowl. There has never been a more powerful group of men or women assembled for a common purpose, excluding perhaps the Superfriends. Their majesty, their achievement, their stone-cold best-ever status, was so ridiculously complete that few of them have escaped the tether of their ’85 Beardom. Otis Wilson remains a Bear-for-hire, a link to the ineffable greatness of ’85, a walking, talking, smiling, hand-pumping ambassador from the best year of our lives. Need to open a local mall or a car dealership? Otis. Need one more celebrity to complete a foursome at a suburban pro-am? Otis. Need a motivational speech at your football camp in Mundelein? Oh yeah—Otis. He’s everywhere, reminding us of our glorious past and lending the fading light of his star to your company outing. Once a feared linebacker who eviscerated quarterbacks and mastered post-sack celebration, Otis has become the area’s greatest Otis Wilson impersonator… again, not a bad thing.
The Otis Wilson Foundation
3616 West 125th Street, Alsip
Best of Chicago 2002