Casey Urlacher (born August 24, 1979) is an American politician and former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. He has been the mayor of

Mettawa, Illinois Mettawa is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 533. The village maintains trails for pedestrian, bicycle and equestrian usage. Five forest preserves of the Lake County Forest Preserve Dis ...

, since 2013. Urlacher previously played football in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL) for two seasons for the

Chicago Rush The Chicago Rush were a professional arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois. The team was founded in 2001 and played in the Arena Football League's Central Division. The Rush qualified for the playoffs in 11 of 12 AFL seasons, during w ...

and

Nashville Kats The Nashville Kats were an Arena Football League team, located in Nashville, Tennessee. They were last coached by Pat Sperduto, who coached the team's original incarnation to two ArenaBowl appearances prior to the original franchise's move to A ...

. He is the brother of former

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) linebacker

Brian Urlacher Brian Urlacher (; born May 25, 1978) is an American former professional football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the New Mexico Lobos, earning co ...

Early life

Urlacher was raised in

Lovington, New Mexico Lovington is a city in and the county seat of Lea County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 11,009 at the 2010 census, up from 9,471 in 2000. Geography Lovington is located slightly north of the center of Lea County. According to ...

. He attended Lovington High School, where alongside his older brother,

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...

, won a state championship in 1995. Urlacher enrolled in the

New Mexico Military Institute New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) is a public military junior college and high school in Roswell, New Mexico. Founded in 1891, NMMI operates under the auspices of the State of New Mexico, under a dedicated Board of Regents that reports t ...

for two years, spending one year as a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

and only playing one season. He relocated to the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

area to follow Brian, who was playing in the

for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

. Chad Eisele recruited Urlacher to play for

Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducatio ...

's Foresters football team. Urlacher played three seasons for the Foresters as a linebacker and fullback, accruing 358 total tackles, 219 rushing yards, 8 rushing touchdowns, and a kickoff return touchdown. He received

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n honors and was also named the

Midwest Conference The Midwest Conference (MWC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in the Midwestern United States in the states of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The Midwest Confe ...

Defensive Player of the Year during his senior year. Urlacher graduated with a business degree from Lake Forest College in 2003.

Professional football career

Urlacher was not selected in the

2003 NFL draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

. The

granted him a professional try-out during their training camp in 2003, but Urlacher failed to make the final roster. The

arena football team signed him to play as a fullback and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

, but Urlacher failed to make the team's roster after training camp and was released. Upon his release, Casey signed with the

Peoria Pirates The Peoria Pirates were a professional arena football team that last played in AF2, the minor league to the Arena Football League (AFL). They played their home games at Carver Arena, part of the Peoria Civic Center in Illinois, and were coached ...

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...

, then the

before being cut in 2005 and joining the Chicago Rush again for a short time.

Civic and political career

In April 2013, Urlacher was elected mayor of the Village of Mettawa,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, having won 61% of the vote. In October of that year, Urlacher was appointed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D) to the Illinois' Civil Service Commission.

Bruce Rauner Bruce Vincent Rauner (; born February 18, 1956) is an American businessman, venture capitalist, and politician who served as the 42nd governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he had a decades-long career in inves ...

reappointed Urlacher to the Illinois Civil Service Commission on May 8, 2017. He served until February 2020, when he resigned his seat. Urlacher announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination to run for State Senate in the 26th district to succeed Dan Duffy on October 1, 2015. His attempt to get on the ballot was challenged, and state election officials invalidated more than 1000 of his collected signatures leaving him with only 48 above the minimum. In March 2016, Urlacher was defeated in a three-way primary by Dan McConchie by over 1,300 votes. After the federal indictment, Urlacher initially did not seek re-election as mayor of Mettawa in the 2021 consolidated election. However, after obtaining a pardon from President Trump, Urlacher declared as a write-in candidate for mayor. He was re-elected after obtaining 157 write-in votes. Urlacher told the

Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois) The ''Daily Herald'' is a daily newspaper based in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The newspaper is distributed in the northern, northwestern and western suburbs of Chicago. It is the namesake of the Daily Herald Media Group, a ...

that he filed as a write-in after being urged by his neighbors. In May 2021, Urlacher filed to run for state senate. Dan McConchie, who defeated Urlacher in 2016, currently serves as the Illinois senate minority leader. Although Urlacher filed to challenge McConchie in the primary, the new state legislative maps put Urlacher in a different district.

Federal indictment

Urlacher was among 10 people charged in a federal indictment alleging they ran an offshore sports gambling ring that raked in millions of dollars from hundreds of Chicago-area gamblers. The ring was led by Vincent "Uncle Mick" DelGuidice, a reputed associate of the

Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or the Organization, is an Italian Americans, Italian American American Mafia, Mafia crime family based in Chicago, I ...

who owned a gambling website registered in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. Urlacher first was a customer of the gambling ring, before accumulating substantial debts, which he agreed to work off by recruiting new gamblers and collecting debts. He was charged with conspiracy and running an illegal gambling business. He is accused of acting as an agent for the gambling ring, recruiting bettors in exchange for a cut of their eventual losses. Urlacher pleaded not guilty to the charges in March 2020. Urlacher was pardoned by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

during his last hours in office on January 20, 2021.

References

External links

Urlacher’s Official Website

Urlacher’s College Stats and Information

Urlacher’s Pro Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urlacher, Casey 1979 births Living people People from Pasco, Washington American football defensive tackles American football offensive tackles American football fullbacks American football linebackers Chicago Rush players Nashville Kats players Lake Forest Foresters football players New Mexico Military Broncos football players Players of American football from New Mexico People from Lovington, New Mexico Sportspeople from Lea County, New Mexico People from Lake Bluff, Illinois Mayors of places in Illinois People from Lake County, Illinois People pardoned by Donald Trump