Remembering the Grabowski Shuffle, 39 years later

39 years later: We are Grabowski

You may remember the Super Bowl Shuffle, but do you remember the Grabowski Shuffle?

CHICAGO - You may remember the Super Bowl Shuffle, but do you remember the Grabowski Shuffle?

What we know:

In January 1986, the Chicago Bears were getting ready to play the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship. Then head coach, Mike Ditka, reportedly was trying to motivate his players by calling the Rams the "Smiths," or the fair-haired kids on the block, while calling the Bears the "Grabowskis."

"Nothing seemed to be coming easy; we had to overcome some obstacles and I kind of like that," said Ditka, during an interview in 1987.

It became a rallying cry, which eventually became the theme of a song and music video which came out in 1987. 

There was a city-wide casting call, where hundreds turned out for an audition. Part of the audition included an interview where you told your story and why you embody a "Grabowski." Five people were chosen to sing and dance alongside Ditka.

Fox Chicago spoke with two of the "Grabowskis" as the Bears and Rams get ready to once again face each other in the NFL Playoffs. 

One of them is 58-year-old Jason Solid, whose name fit him then and now. Solid is a personal trainer and professional bodybuilder who was just 19-years-old and had graduated from Maine East High School a year prior when he was chosen for the video. 70-year-old August "Augie" Deuser, originally from Bridgeport, is a former police officer, turned high school teacher, and politician, who is now retired living in Mokena. 

So what is a Grabowski? :

"Hard-working Chicagoan, someone that pushes forward, somebody that reaches for their goals," said Solid.

"The tough, everyday guys, underdog all the way," said Deuser. 

The audition:

When asked how they found out about the "Grabowski Shuffle" audition.

"The truth? My wife's not here," said Solid, as he laughed while recalling what happened. "Very attractive young woman says to me, ‘Do you know where the Riviera nightclub is,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, in fact, I can take you there on my motorcycle.’ I dropped her off, turned around and left, not getting her phone number. So I went back, I went into the Riviera nightclub, and she points at me, and she goes, 'That's my motorcycle man right there,' and he says, 'He's perfect.'"

Solid said that woman was a casting director, and the man was Dick Meyer, who created this video, and the Super Bowl Shuffle. 

"I was a cop, and I was driving my squad car and I heard on the radio, Wally Phillips, he said they're having try-outs at the Riviera," said Deuser.

He said a woman, who was "Valerie Grabowski" in the video, gave him the heads-up he would be chosen.

"She said, 'They're going to pick you, because they know you're a South-Sider, and you're a Grabowski,'" said Deuser.

That woman, Valerie, was Meyer's daughter. We asked Deuser what he was thinking at the time.

"I was thinking, 'We're in the Grabowski Shuffle, we got to meet Ditka,'" he said.

The song and video may not have been as popular as the Super Bowl Shuffle, but they made the covers of VHS tapes, and newspaper articles. Much like the spirit of Grabowski, that break became a turning point in their lives.

"I decided with my wife to go back to school, get my undergrad, start teaching, and then get my masters at night, and I got my undergrad in education and my masters in education, and I'm glad I did it because I taught for 26 years now," said Deuser.

"Part of my determination was to get in shape and become a bodybuilder some day and over 50 years later I turned pro," said Solid.

Solid was pumping iron in Old Town, with his coach and wife, who is also a professional bodybuilder, Victoria Solid.

"She even trains like a Grabowski," said Solid.

If the Rams are the Smiths, Deuser and Solid both agree, this Bears team defines "Grabowski."

"They don't quit, they don't give up. That's the Grabowski motto, never give up," said Deuser.