ORLANDO, Fla., April 25 (UPI) -- NFL football great Dick Butkus is suing a Florida athletic club to gain control of an award that bears his name.
Butkus is suing the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, which annually gives the Butkus Award to college football's top linebacker.
With rights assigned to them by Butkus, the club has given out the Butkus Award for 22 years. But in a complaint filed Monday in federal court, the former Chicago Bears linebacker said the club "concealed" that he never would be able to use his name in connection with a college linebacker award, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported Wednesday.
Butkus wants to gain control of the award's name to use it to raise money for philanthropic reasons, his lawyers said. Butkus, who is in the Football Hall of Fame, generates no income from the award.
