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WINSTON-SALEM — Aaron Curry didn't have his contact lenses in and his eyes were inflamed. But was that really Dick Butkus?

Uh, yeah. If there's one guy a linebacker can identify without 20-20 vision, it's the former Chicago Bear, whose ferocity still defines a position.

Sure enough, Wake Forest's fifth-year senior won the Butkus Award on Tuesday, and the trophy's namesake was there to hand it out in an impromptu ceremony and surprise party on campus. The citation, in its 24th year, goes to the nation's top college linebacker and is chosen by a panel of NFL personnel experts.

"It's amazing. My granddad always talked about Dick Butkus," Curry said. "He had a bunch of linebacker to talk about, but he always had a story about how hard Dick Butkus hit somebody. To hear those stories, to meet him in persona dn to receive his prestigious award is amazing."

The word arrived on Monday, and by Tuesday morning, everybody had heard about it except the recipient, who was at the university's student health center to get his eyes examined. Informed he had to be at an unspecified meeting at 11 a.m., he balked, citing his impending medical appointment. He finally relented, postponed the exam until 1 p.m., and walked to the appointed locale for unknown reasons.

There was No. 51, the middle linebacker from the University of Illinois and Da Bears, smiling and looking like he could still knock you into next month. Never mind that he's 67.

Butkus said he doesn't choose the winner. He leaves it to his panel of experts, most of whom have seen Curry practice and play live this season. The 247-pound player, who enrolled at 205, stands third in the ACC with 15 tackles for loss. At least two NFL draft gurus call him the No. 1 overall prospect in the upcoming meat market.

"They couldn't have given it to a better team guy," Wake coach Jim Grobe said.

Perhaps most impressive of all was this: Curry unseated the incumbent, Ohio State's James Laurinaitis, who stayed in school and had another big year for the Buckeyes.

Curry becomes only the 17th player in the 56-year history of ACC football to win a major national individual award. Eight of the previous 16 were first-round NFL draftees.

The award comes with the expectation of subsequent community service, a responsibility Curry said he'll embrace. He is considering advocacy regarding heart disease and Butkus' personal cause, prevention of steroid use. Butkus has created an organization, www.iplayclean.org, designed to instruct kids on the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs.

Curry is the third Butkus Award winner from the league. He joins Maryland's E.J. Henderson (2002) and Florida State's Marvin Jones (1992).

The Deacs, who are heading to a bowl game for the third straight year, have now produced individual award winners of considerable distinction in four straight seasons. Running back Chris Barclay was the ACC Player of the Year in 2005 and quarterback Riley Skinner (2006) and running back Josh Adams (2007) won Rookie of the Year in the league.

"With the success of the program, they recognized that Wake has individual players of extreme talent who impact football games," Curry said.

Wake is in the middle of final exams and preliminary preparations for the first bowl of the season, the EagleBank Bowl in Washington, D.C. The Deacs face Navy at 11 a.m. that day.

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.com