October 21, 1985: In one of the coldest moves in the history of the NFL, the Chicago Bears unleash a man known as "The Refrigerator."
William Anthony Perry was a 22-year-old native of Aiken, South Carolina, who had been an All-American defensive tackle at nearby Clemson University. According to the 1984 College Football Preview issue of Sports Illustrated, he was 6-foot-2, and preferred to play at a weight of 320 pounds. He was so full of food, his nickname was "The Refrigerator." (Later, one of his Bear teammates would nickname him "Biscuit," because he was "a biscuit short of 400 pounds.")
That same article on Clemson that featured Perry, including him posing in his Number 66 jersey next to a refrigerator, said that, in spite of his weight, he was a good athlete: He could run the 40-yard dash in 5.2 seconds, not at all a bad time for a defensive lineman at the time; and he could also jump high enough to dunk a basketball.
He was told he would be a legitimate pro prospect if he could drop his weight to 290 pounds. Perhaps more so than ever: The United States Football League was still playing at the time, so he wasn't looking to join 1 of 28 teams, or even 1 of 37 if you counted the Canadian Football League: It was 1 of 55.
The 1 turned out to be the Chicago Bears, who took him in the 1st round of the 1985 NFL Draft. Head coach Mike Ditka, once a Hall of Fame tight end for the team, asked general manager Jerry Vainisi to select him, against the advice of his own assistant coaches, including defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan.
When previous head coach Neill Armstrong (no relation to the similarly-named Moonwalker) was fired after the 1981 season, the Bears' defensive players all signed a letter to George Halas, the team's founding owner, asking him to keep Ryan. So when Halas made Ditka his last hire -- "Papa Bear" died in 1983 -- Ryan was the only holdover on the coaching staff. And they never got along.
Not even on Perry: Ryan called him a "wasted draft pick." Ryan refused to include Perry, now wearing Number 72, in the starting lineup of his "46 Defense." Never had an NFL team been so good with such a deep divide within it: It was the offense and Perry standing behind Ditka, and the rest of the defense standing behind Ryan.
But Ditka remembered something. The Bears had gone 10-6 in 1984, winning the NFC Central Division, their 1st 1st-place finish since their 1963 NFL Championship. They beat the Washington Redskins in the Divisional Playoff. But in the NFC Championship Game, not only did the San Francisco 49ers beat them 23-0, but they rubbed it in: Head coach Bill Walsh had guard Guy McIntyre play as a blocking running back.
The teams played each other at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on October 13. The 49ers were 3-2, having stumbled a little, losing by a touchdown to Minnesota and a field goal to New Orleans. The Bears were 5-0. Joe Montana may have been the greatest quarterback who ever lived, but the Bears sacked him 7 times. The Bears won 26-10. Late in the game, Ditka sent Perry in -- as a running back. He even let Perry carry the ball twice, and he rushed for 4 yards. No real effect on the game, but Ditka had sent a message. (This would be the Bears' last win away to the 49ers for 29 years.)
It probably should have ended there: Ditka had made his point to Walsh. But Ditka wanted to make a point to Ryan as well: This guy can play. And the next game, on October 21, on ABC's Monday Night Football, against the Green Bay Packers, the oldest arch-rivalry in the NFL, would have the entire country watching. (Theoretically, the oldest rivalry is between the Bears and the Arizona Cardinals, who played in Chicago from 1920 to 1959, but since the Cards left Chicago, the teams have cared little about each other.)
During what turned out to be a 23-7 victory, the Bears had a 1st and goal on the Packer 1-yard line. Ditka sent out a formation with Perry looking as though he was going to block for the great Walter Payton, already the NFL's all-time leading rusher. Instead, quarterback Jim McMahon handed the ball to Perry, and he broke through the Packer line to get into the end zone.
At 335 pounds, he became the heaviest player ever to score an offensive touchdown in the NFL. That is, there had been heavier defensive players who picked up a fumble and returned it, or recovered a fumble in the end zone. But Perry was the heaviest player who had been sent in for an offensive play to score a touchdown on said play.
The next week, the Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings. Perry played, but did not appear on offense. The next week, on November 3, the Bears went to Lambeau Field for a rematch against the Packers. Perry was sent in for 1st and goal on the Packer 4, and moved out to become an eligible receiver. McMahon threw him the ball, and Perry took it in for a touchdown. It gave the Bears a 7-3 lead in a game they would win 16-10.
Now, the Bears were 9-0, and Perry had become a folk hero. He starred in a commercial for McDonald's, ordering 4 McDLTs, 2 large fries, and a Diet Coke. Yes, a Diet Coke, as if that would have made a difference. The tagline, over Perry's huge smile with one missing front tooth, was, "McDonald's: Where The Refrigerator stocks up."
On November 17, with McMahon injured and Steve Fuller quarterbacking, the Bears went to Texas and beat the Dallas Cowboys 44-0. Perry rushed for 1 yard, but not a touchdown. The next week, they hosted the Atlanta Falcons, and Perry rushed for another 1-yard touchdown.
The 12-0 Bears' bid for an undefeated season was ruined the following week at the Orange Bowl, losing 38-24 to the Miami Dolphins, who in 1972 became the only undefeated Super Bowl Champions to this day. This remains the most-watched game in Monday Night Football history. Perry did not appear on offense.
Timing is everything: That game was played on December 2, the day before the scheduled release of a song and video the Bears, including Perry, Payton and McMahon, had recorded: "The Super Bowl Shuffle." It made the Bears, including "Fridge" (until the video, most people hadn't heard the shortened version of his nickname), bigger stars than any NFL team had ever been.
Their complacency shattered, the Bears went to work, winning their last 3 games to finish 15-1. Perry was not sent in on offense again, but was proving to his critics, including Ryan, that he was a capable defensive lineman. He ended up starting 9 of the 16 regular-season games. He even recovered 2 fumbles and returned them for a total of 66 yards. The Bears beat the New York Giants 21-0 in the Divisional Playoffs, and the Los Angeles Rams 24-0 in the NFC Championship Game.
Super Bowl XX, at the Superdome in New Orleans, should have been the team's crowning achievement. It should have been Payton's crowning achievement, finally playing in the big game after 11 seasons. But he fumbled early in the game, and the New England Patriots shocked the football world by taking a 3-0 lead. Remember: The Bears hadn't allowed so much as a point in their 1st 2 postseason games.
The Bears tied it on a Kevin Butler field goal. Figuring he was going to win the game anyway, Ditka went against his tough-guy "Iron Mike" image, and decided to get cute. At the Patriot 3-yard line, he sent Perry in. McMahon tossed him the ball, and Perry raised his arm for an option pass. NBC announcer Dick Enberg spoke for all of us when he said, "It's Perry, he's gonna throw the ball!"
But, never having done this in an actual game, he hesitated, couldn't find an open receiver, and had to run it himself, and was tackled for a 1-yard loss. The man who had become the biggest name on a defense that included future Hall-of-Famers Mike Singletary, Dan Hampton and Richard Dent, and All-Pros Steve McMichael, Wilber Marshall, Otis Wilson, Dave Duerson and Gary Fencik, had become a sack victim.
But, as with the loss in Miami, the Bears woke up. They punished the Patriots. They humiliated them. (Keep in mind, Bill Belichick was then an assistant coach for the Giants, and Tom Brady was 8 years old. Neither of them could cheat to help the Pats.) It was 37-3 when Ditka sent Perry in again with the ball at the 1. He jumped over the line, and fell into the end zone. Touchdown. 44-3.
The game ended 46-10, and, for the 1st time in 22 seasons, the Chicago Bears were NFL Champions. But, at the end of the game, the resentments in the team began to show. The offensive players picked Ditka up and carried him off the field. They did so quickly, because they saw that the defensive players were running over to do the same for Ryan. And some players were bitter that Ditka chose to give Perry, not Payton, the greatest player in the Bears' proud history, the chance to score the last touchdown.
The average size for a Super Bowl ring is between 10 and 12. Perry got the largest Super Bowl ring ever: A size 25.
Ryan soon quit to become the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, where he failed to understand that he had Randall Cunningham, a man known as "the Ultimate Weapon," as his quarterback. He never saw another Super Bowl except on television.
Not having to deal with Ryan should have been the best thing that could have happened to both Ditka and Perry. It wasn't: The Bears were still one of the best teams in the NFL, but never again were the best team.
They lost in the Divisional Playoffs in the 1986 and 1987 seasons, in the NFC Championship Game (at home, to the 49ers) in 1988, missed the Playoffs in 1989, lost in the Divisional Round in 1990, lost in the Wild Card Round in 1991, and missed the Playoffs in 1992, at which point Ditka was fired. He had won 106 regular-season games, 6 Division titles, and 6 postseason games, but only 1 NFC Championship Game and 1 Super Bowl.
The Bears became the NFL equivalent of the New York Mets: All that talent in the 1980s, all those memorable characters, and all that hype, from both local and national media machines, and they ended up only going to their sport's final once, winning just the once. The Mets won their World Series 9 months after the Bears won their Super Bowl, and didn't learn the right lessons. Not only did both franchises fail to win another title and eventually get broken up, but neither one has ever won another title. The Bears have only been to 1 more Super Bowl, the Mets to only 2 more World Series, all lost.
As for Perry: He started all 16 games in 1986, but was only sent in for 1 rushing play, and lost a yard. In the strike-shortened 1987 season, 15 games, he played 12, started 11. Injuries limited him to 3 games in 1988. In 1989, he played in 13, starting 9. He started all 16 games in 1990, and again in 1991. In 1992, he played in 15, starting 14. But he didn't get the ball again until 1990, again just once, again losing 1 yard. That would be it for the Refrigerator as an offensive player.
In 1993, under new head coach Dave Wannstedt, he was not started in any of the team's 1st 8 games, although he did play in 7 of them. Then he was traded to the Eagles, who, by this point, had fired Ryan in favor of Rich Kotite, another coach who thought he was a lot smarter than he actually was. He started Perry in all 8 remaining games, and in all 16 games the next year.
But Perry's weight became a problem, and he got close to 400 pounds. By this point, there had been other players who were as heavy as he was, but few of them had anywhere near the kind of athleticism he had at 320. Gilbert Brown, "the Gravedigger," of the Packers was an exception, a man weighing 377 pounds, but could really move.
Perry was cut by the Eagles after the 1994 season. He made a comeback with the London Monarchs of the World League of American Football in 1996, but it only lasted the 1 season. He fell victim to diabetes, alcoholism (usually a deadly combination) and Guillain–Barré syndrome. By 2014, he was confined to a wheelchair, and living with his brother, Michael Dean Perry, who had become a star for the Cleveland Browns.
Michael Dean was named his brother's conservator, and says that, since 2016, William has been living in an assisted-living facility in their native South Carolina. Michael Dean thinks William may be one of the many NFL players -- including his Bear teammates, quarterback McMahon, and safety Duerson, who eventually committed suicide over it -- suffering from CTE due to head injuries.
William and Michael Dean Perry
Noticeably, when ESPN aired The '85 Bears for its 30 for 30 series, while he was the subject of some discussion, "The Refrigerator" was not interviewed. McMahon was, and was able to describe his condition. Ryan was, and, despite having had a stroke and having trouble speaking, and dying just 4 months after the film's 1st airing, did say a few words. But William Perry did not.
In 2015, Dontari Poe, a defensive tackle who wasn't even born yet in 1985, was put in as a running back by the Kansas City Chiefs. He scored a touchdown. At 346 pounds, he broke, and still holds, the record for heaviest player ever to score an offensive touchdown in the NFL.
*
October 21, 1985 was a Monday. So there were no other NFL games played that day (or night). The NBA season wouldn't start for another 4 days. And this was the travel day between Games 2 and 3 of the World Series, which the Kansas City Royals would win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7, 7 days later.
Only 1 NHL game was played, but, like Bears vs. Packers, it was a nasty rivalry. Unlike Bears vs. Packers, it no longer exists. The Quebec Nordiques beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 at the Montreal Forum. The previous April, in the Playoffs, they had a nasty fight that became known as "The Good Friday Massacre."