NEW ORLEANS — Charles Tillman’s daughter was 3 months old when she was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, or an enlarged heart. She was 6 months old when she received a heart transplant in 2008.
It was during that time that the former Bears cornerback opened up a handwritten letter from Bears matriarch Virginia McCaskey, who said she was praying for his family and offered to help if they needed everything. She praised his play and what he meant to the team.
“She just really expressed her concern and thoughts and prayers for my family during that time,” he said. “She was very old school in everything she did.”
The two grew closer during the experience. In his 12 seasons with the Bears, he saw her often. It was hard to miss her around Halas Hall.
“What I want people to know is that we saw her more than the fans, the media did,” Tillman said Friday from Super Bowl’s radio row. “She was very much involved with the team, the organization.
“She traveled. She drove. She wasn’t just an owner. She did things. She made choices. It was the family business.”
He said that when she walked into the room, even the most hardened players would sit up straight and try to behave themselves.
“The thing I remember most, too, is, she would talk to the players,” he said. “You’ve got to think that there’s a lot of testosterone in that locker room, there’s a lot of testosterone in that building. But when she would step in the room … she commanded respect without yelling or screaming. She’d just talk to you and you’d say, ‘Yes ma’am.’”
When he learned of McCaskey’s death at age 102 on Thursday, Tillman thought back to Jan. 21, 2007, when the Bears won the NFC title at against the Saints. As snow fell onto the Soldier Field turf, she smiled as she accepted the George Halas Trophy, named after her father and founder of the Bears, while wearing her mother Min’s fur coat.
“That’s the best image I’ll have of her — that dope mink coat,” Tillman said. “Her in that mink jacket and holding the trophy named after her dad. [Fox announcer] Terry Bradshaw in handing her the trophy. It was snowing. That was a great night.”
The Bears hoped to provide her with one more two weeks later against the Colts at Super Bowl XLI. Devin Hester returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown but the Bears lost to the Colts, 29-17. They haven’t been back to the Super Bowl since.
“The one thing I’m saddest about most, beside her not being here, is, I wish we would have gotten her a Super Bowl,” he said. “Everybody who knew her in the Lovie era, we wanted to get her a Super Bowl. We came up short the one year.”
