Jiggetts '76 Makes It As a Bear

Coming from the Ivy League has not presented an overwhelming problem for Danny Jiggetts '76, the sixth round draft choice of the Chicago Bears.

The 6 -foot 5-inch, 250- pound offensive tackle has seen a lot of playing time even though he is on the second team. He played a half in each of the Bears first two winning pre-season efforts.

And Jiggetts says he doesn't feel that his Ivy League training, or lack of it, has put him far behind those players from Big Ten or SEC schools. "There is only a little difference in technique," Jiggetts said from the Bears' training camp on Friday. "The ability is there, it is just a matter of refining my techniques," he added.

Not Too Difficult

The training has not been too difficult for Jiggetts, he says, because he came to Lake Forest College in Illinois in shape. Workouts consist of a morning session in which the approximately 60 players still in camp do the usual exercises like running and lifting weights.

In the afternoon, the team works out together, performing drills and scrimmaging. "It is more contact than I'm used to," said Jiggetts. After dinner there is a team skull session, focusing on learning plays and strategy.

Positive Thinker

The Bears head coach, Jack Pardee, "is an excellent coach and a positive thinker," said Jiggetts. As a result of Pardee's attitude and the Bears' status as a very young ballclub, the coach has the team's "spirit up again," said Jiggetts. Another benefit of the team's relative greenness is that it has made it a "very easy transition" to the big leagues.

The Bears have been a perennial NFL loser since 1967, the last year they were coached by founding father George Halas--and the last time they enjoyed a winning season.

Jiggetts goes to business school in the off-season with the hope of eventually earning his MBA, also holding a job in a Chicago bank. Jiggetts says he will find a place to live in the city when the team moves from its suburban Chicago training camp in the first week of September.