Peter Perez’s family is welcomed by the Bears in Halas Hall

Peter Perez's family is welcomed by the Bears in Halas Hall
MaryKate Drews/Chicago Bears 2023

The Bears brought the family of the late Peter Perez, who played offensive guard for the team in 1945, to Halas Hall on Friday to commemorate Latino Heritage Month.

Early in the 1900s, Perez’s parents left Zacatecas, Mexico, where they were born and raised, and moved to Aurora, Illinois. Perez felt proud of his background and his ability to represent it in the NFL as one of the first Latino athletes to play in the league.

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Patrick, Paul, and Michael, three of Perez’s five kids, traveled to Lake Forest with their families to view the Bears’ Latino Heritage Month display, which features their father. Roberto Garza and Rick Casares, two other Bears alumni, are also highlighted.

“I’m grateful of not only what the Bears did for our father, but for Rick Casares, Roberto Garza & the Latino community throughout the Chicagoland area,” said Patrick. “We want to express our gratitude to the Chicago Bears organization and Claire Blakemore, the assistant for the Bears Historical Archives. My father had this as a lifelong desire, so to be here to witness it come true is priceless.

Additionally spending time with the Perez family on Friday were Vice President Brian J. McCaskey and Bears Chairman George H. McCaskey.

George stated that the Bears “were delighted to have Peter’s family at Halas Hall for their visit because as his son, Patrick, stated, his dad opened doors for a lot of people.”

Ray Eliot, who coached Perez while he was playing college football for the University of Illinois, also wrote the Bears a letter of recommendation for Perez. Perez only played one season for Chicago, but Patrick claims his father always had positive things to say about his time there.

“When we were kids, we used to go to the alumni games as he and my mom would go to the dinners,” Patrick recalled. “He discussed it and how it felt. He was the first football coach we had as youngsters when we played Catholic elementary school football. Because he applied the lessons he acquired here to coaching us, we have never had a finer coach in our lives.

Perez returned to Aurora once his football career was over, worked in law enforcement for 34 years, and was sworn in as a police officer in 1968. Perez received the inaugural Hector Jordan Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hispanic Illinois State Law Enforcement Association in 1990.

The Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board has also established an award in honor of Perez, who passed away in 1999. The yearly accolade recognizes a local person for outstanding leadership and contributions to the Hispanic community.

The year 2005 saw the naming of a boulevard in Aurora, the place where our father was raised, in his honor. “The fact that our father passed away in 1999 and that he is still being remembered here by the Chicago Bears in a positive light is [special],” Patrick remarked. Every year, an honor in my dad’s honor is given out by the Aurora Hispanic community. He established a very high standard, and I will always be more proud of my father than anyone else in my life.

It was a dream come true for Patrick, Paul, and Michael to have their father’s name and life story displayed in Halas Hall nearly 80 years after he made his Bears debut.

Paul described his feelings of being at Halas Hall as being “just immense pride.” “Pride in this group, pride in our father. Being in Bear Country has helped our community in Aurora come together. It is well-known for both my father and the Bears. We are merely the recipients of that and are incredibly grateful for the chance to see it for ourselves.

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