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Before he was starring in movies, Vince Vaughn was a kid in suburban Chicago watching Notre Dame and Bears football.
“I was so fortunate because we didn’t have a lot when I was younger, but we had Walter Payton, and he was such an unbelievable player, just a quality guy the way he handled himself,” Vaughn tells Variety. “As a kid, I lived in Buffalo Grove, and Doug Plank lived down the street from me, and that’s who the 46 Defense is named after because he wore number 46. He was obviously a very physical, hard-hitting safety, so I was a big fan of his as well.”
Those memories were forged during an era when Bears football was often defined by tough defenses and larger-than-life personalities. Football has remained a recurring theme throughout Vaughn’s life ever since, from playing Notre Dame’s backup quarterback Jamie O’Hara in “Rudy” to leading the chaotic family football game in “Wedding Crashers” and delivering one of cinema’s most memorable trash-talking scenes in “The Break-Up.” Today, the actor is passing that love of football — and competitive gaming — on to his 13-year-old son, Vernon.
