Stories about Bears players holding down regular jobs in the off season are plentiful around Chicagoland back in the day. I'm sure it was the same nationwide with all NFL teams. They never got paid enough back then. Many of them sold cars, insurance and if they were popular enough, book personal appearances.

This gave birth to the pro athlete owned bar, restaurant & club phenomena in the 50's, 60's & 70's. Tons of Chicago pro athletes did this, including; Joe Pepitone, Dave Kingman, Redd Kerr, Stan Mikita, Ron Santo & Ed O'Bradovich.