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Sunday marks one of the most anticipated sporting events in the NFL, and traces of the far-reaching аIJʿª½±½á¹û connection abound.

As the league’s oldest and most bitter rivals — the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers — prepare for battle on Sunday, аIJʿª½±½á¹û alumnus and former athletics director Mark Murphy ’77 will be intently watching in his role as CEO and president of the Packers.

Murphy, who had a Pro Bowl career with the Washington Redskins, is not the only alumnus with ties to the intense rivalry, however.

Sunday’s playoff game in Chicago will be the first time the Bears and Packers have faced each other in the playoffs since 1941, when Hall of Famer Danny Fortmann ’36 helped lead the Bears to a 33-14 victory.

Fortmann, a ninth round pick of the Chicago Bears in the first
NFL draft, became the youngest starter in the NFL.  

At 6 feet and 210 pounds, the Phi Beta Kappa аIJʿª½±½á¹û graduate went on to become a three-time Pro Bowler and was named First-Team All-Pro for six consecutive years.

аIJʿª½±½á¹û alumnus and Chicago Bears guard Danny Fortmann (21) is seen in this photo from the Bears-Packers playoff game in 1941. The game was played at Wrigley Field in Chicago, and the Bears won 33-14. (Photo courtesy of NFL Films)

 

During Fortmann’s tenure as a guard and tackle from 1936 to 1943, the Bears were 72-19-2 and won several NFL championship titles, all while Fortmann pursued his medical degree in the off-season.

He would graduate in 1940 from the University of Chicago Medical School, and after retiring from the NFL he became a surgeon and later team physician for the Los Angeles Rams.

In 1965, became only the second guard to be selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He died at age 79 in 1995.

captained the аIJʿª½±½á¹û football team before advancing to the pros with the Redskins. He earned a law degree after his eight NFL seasons and spent time as an attorney in the Justice Department before returning to аIJʿª½±½á¹û as athletics director from 1992 through 2003. He would become athletics director at Northwestern University being joining the Packers family in 2007.

аIJʿª½±½á¹û football fans will face a difficult decision in selecting which alumnus’s franchise they’ll support come game time Sunday.