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The mayor of Mettawa, in suburban Lake County, got a personal phone call from Brian Urlacher to announce that the legendary Chicago Bears linebacker had been voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Why would Urlacher, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection over his 13-year NFL career, call the mayor of a tiny suburb about 40 miles north of Soldier Field? Because Mayor Casey Urlacher is Brian’s younger brother.

“I’m ecstatic,” Casey Urlacher said in a phone interview Monday morning. “I’m super proud of him. It’s well-deserved.”

Casey Urlacher, who played football at Lake Forest College, had a tryout with the Bears and played briefly in the Arena Football League, recalled that he got the phone call about 5 p.m. Saturday from Brian Urlacher, who was in Minnesota, site of this year’s Super Bowl.

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“It’s pretty amazing. It really is,” Casey Urlacher said. “He worked hard to get where he is. Just to make it to the NFL is pretty special and then to have the career he had. I’m just really proud.”

Brian Urlacher has another connection to Mettawa, which is less than three miles west of the Bears’ Halas Hall training facility in Lake Forest. Through a trust in 2004, he purchased a mansion on almost 10 acres in Mettawa for $2.3 million, then expanded it.

Urlacher placed the mansion on the market for $3 million last March. It remains unsold.

Casey Urlacher has served as mayor of Mettawa since being elected in 2013. Two years later, he ran for a state Senate seat that Dan McConchie won in 2016. Last year, Mettawa voters re-elected Urlacher mayor.

Another mayor added his congratulations to Brian Urlacher’s accomplishment. On Saturday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a prepared statement said the linebacker’s “toughness … never quit attitude and his hard working style embodied what it means to be a Chicago Bear and what it means to be a Chicagoan.

“He was a Monster of the Midway who left his personal stamp on the proud tradition of Bears linebackers,” Emanuel said. Urlacher “struck fear in the hearts of opposing offenses” and “earned his place in the hearts of Bears fans long ago. I join all Bears fans in congratulating Brian on his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”

Casey Urlacher said he’s hoping to attend his brother’s induction ceremony in August. Friends from New Mexico, where the Urlachers were raised, have contacted Mayor Urlacher and said they’re planning to go to Canton, Ohio, location of the Hall of Fame.

“I’ll have to see what I’ve got going in August,” Urlacher said, “but yeah, I’d love to see it.”

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Twitter @tgregoryreports

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