The Chicago Bears had nothing but positive things to say after touring Eastern’s campus Tuesday in their continued search for a new training camp home for the summer of 2002.

“We’re glad to be here and we had a good afternoon,” said Bill McGrane, the director of administration for the Bears. “We saw some very fruitful things from our standpoint, and we saw a lot of things that gave us a positive reaction as far as setting up a training camp goes.”

The trip to Eastern marked the sixth in 10 scheduled visits the Bears have for college campuses across the state after deciding to relocate their camp back instate from their current home in Platteville, Wisc.

“A lot of people are pretty interested in doing what they can here to provide the Bears with a good training camp,” McGrane said. “We’re looking for the best launching pad site to prepare our team for the football season.”

McGrane said the Bears have already visited Rockford College, Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois State, Knox College in Galesburg and Monmouth College. The organization also intends to visit Southern Illinois at both Carbondale and Edwardsville next week as well as touring the University of Illinois and Olivet Nazarene University in Kankakee.

McGrane said whichever destination the Bears choose will benefit greatly from their three weeks in town.

“Wherever we go, we’ll bring people,” he said. “We will be very important to the tourist business within the town, because the people that come to see us will use the town’s facilities.”

Lou Hencken, Eastern’s Vice President for Student Affairs, has been working closely with the Bears and believes they have a factor that sets Charleston apart from the rest of the possible locations.

“We believe there are several things that help us,” Hencken said. “The Bears have consistently said the fields are the most important thing and we have several of them and we have a lot of space at Eastern Illinois University to accommodate them.

“We own our own food service and operate it, so that gives us flexiblity, and we also believe we have big, excellent facilities,” he said. “But the one thing that sets us head and shoulders above the rest is that we’ve done it before.”

Eastern played host to the St. Louis Cardinals camp in 1976 and again from 1982 until the Cardinals relocated to Phoenix. Hencken was one of Eastern’s administrators that was instrumental in working with the Cardinals and bringing them to Charleston.

“We have people that worked with the Cardinals when they were here and we know what to expect,” Hencken said. “We know what an NFL team demands and we know how flexible we have to be.”

McGrane said Eastern’s previous experience is an attractive attribute.

“It’s definitely positive in just the fact that there are people still active in the university and administration that used to work with a pro team,” he said.

When asked how Eastern compared to the five sites he had already visited, McGrane declined to say which was the most attractive but did say, “Eastern ranks very positively.

“We’re not trying to rank anyone in any certain order, and we don’t want to rule anyone out yet,” McGrane said. “But they ranked great with what we’ve seen.”

McGrane said one area Eastern would have to improve would be the current practice fields.

“The practice fields would need improvement, but that’s been the case everywhere we’ve been,” he said. “Eastern is definitely ahead of the curve.

“They have more field space than most places,” McGrane said. “They knew coming in the fields would be something that would need to be addressed and we were able to do that.”

Hencken said Eastern currently has four practice fields and the capability to build more if necessary. He also said the Bears would likely have limited access to O’Brien Stadium for occassional night practices or walk throughs.

“We’re very, very pleased that the entire Coles County area has come together and offered money to help for field improvements,” Hencken said. “The organization Coles Together said they will give the University money to help fix the fields.”

Should the Bears come to Eastern, Hencken anticipates the university making a minimal profit.

“When the St. Louis Cardinals were here, we benefitted public relations-wise and financially,” he said. “We were able to turn a very, small profit wheich we then turned around and spent on the fields and facilities the team used.

“The real benefit, in our belief, would be the money that East Central Illinois would see from this,” Hencken said. “It’s the motel, restaurant and gas station owners that would profit the most.”

In addition to viewing the stadium and practice fields, five representatives for the Bears toured dorm and meeting rooms in Stevenson, Lincoln and Douglas residence halls, Lantz Fieldhouse, classrooms in the Lantz Building as well as larger class rooms and lecture halls in Coleman and Lumpkin Halls.

Overall, Hencken said he got the impression that the Bears were very enthused with their visit.

“We were very pleased to have the opportunity to have the Bears visit Eastern Illinois University and we believe them coming here would bring very, positive benefits for both EIU and East Central Illinois,” Hencken said. “The visit was very positive and we look forward to the Bears hopefully making their decision to come here for training camp.”