Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Cabral, Moorehead, 'Da Bears' Get Their Due
October 10, 2011 | Football, B.G. Brooks
At long last last Friday, the 1985 Chicago Bears were recognized at the White House for winning Super Bowl XX - a customary gesture that usually occurs in the months following the NFL's championship game.
"It was one more road trip with the guys . . . we're all older now, so it probably meant more to us now than it would have then," said Emery Moorehead, who along with current Buffs linebackers coach Brian Cabral formed a Colorado connection for Chicago's long-awaited Super Bowl celebration.
Moorehead, a letterman at wingback for CU from 1974-76, captained the '76 Buff and played tight end for Chicago's Super Bowl champs. Cabral, a CU letter winner at linebacker from 1975-77, captained the '77 Buffs and was Chicago's special teams captain in its championship season.
"Da Bears" team of '85 was a Petri dish for the weird, famous and infamous, a collection of characters that included quarterback Jim McMahon, defensive tackle/fullback William "The Refrigerator" Perry, then-NFL career rushing leader Walter Payton, head coach Mike Ditka and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, to name a mere five. They collaborated magnificently to cap an 18-1 season by pummeling New England 46-10 in New Orleans.
Sensing during their 15-1 regular season that something special might await at the end of an offbeat rainbow, some members of the team were gently nudged into recording "The Super Bowl Shuffle," which got ample air time before and after the big event on Jan. 26, 1986 in the Superdome.
"There were a lot of characters on that team . . . at that time the NFL still let you have personalities," laughed Moorehead, who enjoyed a 12-year NFL career (Giants, Broncos, Bears) and is now a successful real estate agent in Northbrook, Ill. His son was a receiver for Indianapolis, making Emery and Aaron Moorehead the only father-son combo to have played in and won Super Bowls.
Moorehead's itinerary last week to attend the Super Bowl reunion wasn't as complicated as Cabral's. With the Buffs playing at Stanford on Saturday, Cabral flew from Denver to Chicago on Thursday night, hooked up with the Bears' charter on Friday morning, attended the White House festivities, jumped in a private car to Dulles Airport late Friday afternoon, then caught a commercial flight to San Francisco.
For Cabral, a CU staffer nearly three decades after a nine-year NFL career (Falcons, Packers, Bears), the reunion was an emotional one. "For me, the whole trip was about my teammates, seeing my former coaches," he said. "I wasn't sure if they wanted to be there or really who would show up. I know Buddy Ryan has health problems; he had (cancer) surgery recently and later found out that he had postponed another surgery to be there.
"I was touched by the reality of knowing it probably was the last time I would see some of those guys - especially some of the coaches. Ditka and Buddy influenced my life and coaching career. But being with my teammates, it was kind of like we'd never been apart."
The Bears' White House celebration was canceled because of the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle. In a book bearing his name, McMahon took exception to that, blaming Chicago team chairman Michael McCaskey for what turned out to be a 26-year postponement. Wrote McMahon: "A lot of people figured the Bears would show up at the White House to meet President Reagan after we won the Super Bowl. But I knew it would never happen, unless Michael McCaskey could have convinced all the players to take a bus to Washington to save money. Either that, or President Reagan would have had to send Air Force One to Chicago to get us. Free of charge, of course."
And at the White House, Ditka offered this good-natured jab: "It's only 26 years and five administrations after the fact . . . but thanks."
After 21/2 decades, many Chicago players, team officials and Bears fans believed their time had passed. But with a Chicagoan - Barrack Obama - in the White House, interest in honoring "Da Bears" was revived.
"He's a big Bears fan, so that had something to do with it," Moorehead said. "It was something we often thought about; we tried to get Reagan to do, but he never got around to it. When Obama got elected, everybody started calling everybody else - Obama is in, let's see if we can make this happen.
"We're still pretty popular in Chicago, even though the Bulls and (Michael) Jordan won six NBA titles. We had an incredible season in '85, one that affected a lot of people then and still does."
Neither Cabral nor Moorehead had met the President, whom each said was gracious and apparently happy to see his hometown NFL team finally get its due. "It wasn't surreal; it was very real in sense in that (Obama) was another guy, another fan," Cabral said. Apparently true, because Obama called the occasion "as much fun as I will have as president of the United States . . . this is one of the perks of the job, right here."
Moorehead also said a number of politicians with Chicago or Illinois ties had angled to attend the reception. "I was told it was one of the toughest tickets to get in D.C. in quite a while," he said.
Obama shook hands with every member of the Bears entourage, which included front office personnel as well as players and coaches. When Cabral was introduced to Obama as being from Hawaii, the President gave Cabral a smile and the "hang loose" hand sign.
"Cool," Cabral said. "When we walked out, we shook hands again and he asked me if I still had family in Hawaii. I told him, 'I sure do,' and he said, 'Tell everyone in Hawaii I said hello.' He's a very personable guy. I think he must have done his homework with me."
Cabral and Moorehead said the Chicago organization and the presidential staff treated the '85 team in a first-class manner from start to finish of what was about a 10-hour day. After a breakfast at a D.C.-area Marriott, the Bears were bused to the White House, where they were given a tour and were served Chicago-style pizza on the South Lawn.
Cabral and Moorehead visited on the flight to D.C., and Cabral also spent time with former Tennessee Titans Jeff Fisher, an '85 Bears teammate. Living relatively close to Chicago, Moorehead sees more of his former Bears teammates who live in the area than he does of Cabral, whose CU coaching duties limit those encounters. However, Cabral did attend an '85 Bears 10-year reunion in the mid-90s, and Moorehead tries to visit with Cabral when he makes an annual fall trip to Boulder.
But Friday's reunion and celebration topped the others.
"It was memorable - no question," Cabral said. "Everybody's aged . . . you couldn't help feel it would be the last time to see some of those guys, to catch up with some of them and hear the rest of the story. It was almost like saying your goodbyes."
Cabral and Fisher pondered that, said Cabral, with Fisher adding this perspective: "They're here now and that's what you have to appreciate."
BUFF BITS: Josh Moten was back at practice Monday. According to CU coach Jon Embree, "He got the stuff he needed done, handled, so he's back." He said the status of the other four players suspended hasn't changed, only that "they violated team rules" and "it would be a while" before they could return, but that it was not one single incident . . . . Embree hopes to have Paul Richardson back by the either the Arizona State or USC game, saying the sophomore receiver "slipped in practice. I think he got knicked on the same play, but it was more of him slipping." . . . . Center Daniel Munyer could return this week with cornerback Arthur Jaffee likely to return . . . . Embree wasn't sure on the timelines for corners Travis Sandersfeld (hopefully Oregon) or Brian Lockridge . . . . True freshman defensive back Sherrard Harrington has started running but hasn't practiced yet, so he will redshirt and is not a candidate to help in the defensive backfield. Embree said the team has "a lot of bodies but not at a lot of positions."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
