Brian Urlacher To Attend Joliet Council Candidate's Fundraiser

JOLIET, IL — Retired Chicago Bears football player Brian Urlacher, who is regarded as one of the NFL's greatest linebackers to play the game, will be visiting Joliet next weekend as part of a charity fundraiser hosted by Joliet City Council candidate Joe Clement.

The event goes from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on March 14, which is a Sunday, at the IBEW Local 176 Banquet Hall, 1100 NE Frontage Road in Joliet. The banquet facility faces Interstate 55, and it's near the Whiteford Youth Baseball diamonds.

Urlacher will appear at Clement's fund-raiser as the keynote guest for the first hour, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

"I'm just so happy the people of Joliet and the surrounding communities will have a chance to see Brian Urlacher at a reasonable price, who is absolutely one of the great linebackers to ever play the game of football," Clement told Joliet Patch's editor. "I did not ask him to endorse me. I had the opportunity to have him come. There will be about a dozen footballs and other silent auction items and the proceeds of the auction will be donated to ... local food pantries and charities."

Tickets to attend the Urlacher event are $54 per person; 54, of course, was Urlacher's Chicago Bears jersey number.

For information on how to purchase a ticket for the fundraiser, or for event sponsorship details, visit Clement's website at www.joeforjoliet.com.

An event flier indicates that face masks will be required because of the coronavirus pandemic and people will have their temperature taken before they can enter the banquet hall.

Clement said he will be conforming to all social distancing guidelines and that includes limiting the number of people inside the banquet hall to see the featured guest. Joliet businessman Herb Lande and his wife Lori reached out to Clement and agreed to match up to $10,000 of the silent auction donations for the Wilson footballs that Urlacher will autograph in Joliet, Clement said.

Herb Lande has been serving as an interim Joliet City Council member following the unexpected resignation of Don "Duck" Dickinson last November.

How did Clement get Urlacher to come to Joliet when the Hall of Fame NFL great is retired and living in sunny Arizona nowadays?

"I put this event together in less than a week," Clement told Patch. "I was thinking of organizing a fundraiser and my sister, Barb, knows the Urlachers. I called her and asked what the possibilities could be that Brian Urlacher could come and be a guest at my fundraiser and allow the residents of Joliet to have an opportunity to see him."

Clement said his sister contacted Urlacher, and she later heard back from Urlacher's wife, Jennipher Frost Urlacher, who told her, "we'd like to help your brother out."

Clement is an at-large candidate for Joliet City Council in the April 6 races. There are 12 candidates competing for three at-large openings that carry a four-year term of elected office.

Clement retired last August after more than 27 years with the Joliet Police Department, where he served as detective. He has been on the Joliet Park District board the past four years.

Urlacher, 42, was honored with a ceremony at Soldier Field on Sept. 17, 2018, following his induction into the NFL Hall of Fame. Last August, Patch reported that Chicago Bears officials have distanced the organization from their former star in response to Urlacher's recent activity on his social media account.

Patch reported that Urlacher juxtaposed a 2003 Monday Night Football game former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre played with players' recent boycotts of National Basketball Association postseason games in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha police.

"Brett Favre played the MNF game the day his dad died, threw 4 TDs in the first half, and was a legend for playing in the face of adversity," Urlacher said in a statement posted to his Instagram story. "NBA players boycott the playoffs because a dude reaching for a knife, wanted on a felony sexual assault warrant, was shot by police."

According to the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame website, Urlacher was an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and was named to the NFL's All-Decade Team for the 2000s. In his 182 career games, Urlacher had 41.5 sacks, 22 interceptions and two touchdowns, 12 forced fumbles and 16 fumble recoveries. Additionally, he made 1,358 tackles, including 44 games with 10 or more tackles.