Chicago Bears Legend Wally Chambers Passes Away

The Chicago Bears have many great legends in their long and storied history. Wally Chambers was one of those legends. Chambers passed away this week at the age of 68.

Chambers was born in Phenix City, Alabama on May 15, 1951. He went attended high school at Mount Clemens in Michigan. He attended college at Eastern Kentucky University.

He came to the Bears as a first-round pick in the 1973 NFL Draft.

He went eight overall.

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Chambers was a “hit” right away with the Bears as he earned a very powerful honor, NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. He was also named to the Pro Bowl in 1973.

His start with the Bears was magical.

During his career with the Bears, he was named to three Pro Bowls, named United Press International Defensive Player of the Year, First-team All-Pro in 1976, Football Digest NFL Defensive Player of the year in 1976 and second-team All-Pro in 1974 and 1975.

Chambers played with the Bears from 1973 to 1977 then went on to play two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Following his professional career, he coached at two colleges, East Carolina University, and Northern Iowa, with one professional team, the Jets, and with one semi-pro team, the World League of American Footballs’ Ohio Glory.

He might have been able to play a few more seasons but he hurt his right knee and developed degenerative problems with the knee. He was out of the league when he was just 28 years old.