Looking back, it was about as happy as I have ever been.

It was Sunday, Jan. 12, 1986, and the Chicago Bears were shutting out the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field in Chicago.

Late in the game, the CBS broadcast got a close-up view of the side of Bears quarterback Jim McMahon’s face as he sat on the bench, wearing a headband with the last name of NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle written on it.

The camera stayed on McMahon for a few seconds before the quarterback slowly turned his head and stuck out his tongue, right at the camera. Then, the “Punky QB” nonchalantly turned his attention back to the game.

I was 11 years old and in the fifth grade, and I laughed my head off. Like he did all year, McMahon made me happy by winning and by clearly having fun while doing so.

He was everything I ever wanted to be. He lived by his own rules and said what he wanted. He was also tough as nails.

In 1984, McMahon played a couple of plays after suffering a lacerated kidney in a game against the Los Angeles Raiders. Then, he drank a beer in the shower before going to the hospital with the potentially life-threatening injury.

In Week 3 of the 1985 season, McMahan spent some more time in the hospital with a neck and back injury, and coach Mike Ditka said the quarterback wasn’t going to play when the Bears took on the Vikings in Minnesota on a special Thursday night game.

The Bears were losing in the first half, and you could see McMahon in the coach’s ear the whole time.

Chicago trailed 17-9 in the third quarter when Ditka finally had enough of McMahon and put him in the game. His first two passes went for touchdowns, and the Bears won 33-24.

Two weeks after sticking his tongue out at the camera, McMahon should have been named MVP of Super Bowl XX after a 46-10 Bears rout of the New England Patriots. He passed for 256 yards and ran for two touchdowns before watching most of the second half from the sidelines, switching up his multitude of headbands.

After the Super Bowl, McMahon wrote a book that I read at least seven times, including twice as an “adult.”

Even though the book was probably mostly written by sportswriter Bob Verdi after conversations with the quarterback, it was easily the most influential book of my life.

I read it a couple of times during my junior high years, and we all know those are the toughest years. That book made me realize that it was OK to be myself. I realized that if I let the judging opinions of my classmates dictate what I did or said, then I was letting other people live my life for me.

It was a lesson that I try hard to pass on to my three kids, and I think I have been successful at that, for the most part.

As silly as it sounds, I think every middle school student should read that book. I might not have gotten through junior high without it.

During the summer of 1988, I sent a letter to the Bears asking for McMahon’s autograph. A few weeks later, I got an invitation to join the Jim McMahon Fan Club in the mail.

I wanted to join, but my dad was out of work, and that $19.99 membership fee was too much for my family. But I saved the membership form for years. It wasn’t an autograph, but it was a keepsake.

In August of 1989, the Bears traded McMahon to the San Diego Chargers, and it felt like I lost a close family member. For the next eight seasons, I followed McMahon’s career when he played for the Chargers, Eagles, Vikings, Cardinals and some team from Wisconsin I never heard of. When McMahon played, I was for his team.

In 1991, I was in the San Francisco area with my family when we came upon a card show at a mall. Looking through the cards, I found a Jim McMahon rookie card in a plastic case. It wasn’t autographed.

I knew I only had $20 on me, so I was preparing myself to borrow money from my brothers and beg for more from my parents to buy the card of my dreams. I would have paid $100 for that card that day.

Trying to play it cool, I handed the card to a guy behind the table and asked, “How much for this one?”

The guy hemmed and hawed for a few seconds and said, “Give me two bucks.”

I quickly forked over $2 and got the heck out of there like I just robbed a bank. To this day, it was the best $2 I ever spent.

That is why I was blown away the other day when my friend Tanner Gooch gave me a Big Sky Conference football with a signature on it. I looked at the signature, and it took a second or two before it hit me.

My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I recognized it read “Jim McMahon.” He added his No. 9 and “Super Bowl XX.”

Tanner got it from our mutual friend Jon Kasper, a former sportswriter at the Missoulian. Jon is now the senior associate commissioner of the Big Sky Conference. McMahon still has family in Roy, Utah, where he played his last two years of high school football.

Roy isn’t far from the Big Sky headquarters in Farmington, and Jon was able to get some things signed by McMahon for the conference. Knowing that I am a huge fan of the Bears and McMahon, my old University of Montana classmate got a ball signed for me, and he sent the ball to Butte with Tanner.

I took a picture of the ball and put it on Twitter, or whatever it is called now, explaining that McMahon is my favorite quarterback and the real MVP of Super Bowl XX.

Later that day, McMahon retweeted my picture. 

Now, I think there is a good chance that McMahon doesn’t control his Twitter account. It very well could be an agent operating it on his behalf.

But I know he signed the ball.

I sent Jon a thank you note, and here’s how he responded.

“I want you to know that Jim signed the ball basically naked,” Jon said. “Just a small pair of shorts on. No shirt. No shoes.”

McMahon once said his dream was to own a golf course and golf naked all day. I know he likes to play barefoot.

I know a lot about the Punky QB. That’s because he was so much more than just my favorite football player. He was one of the biggest influences on my life. To this day, McMahon is on the very top of the list of people I want to talk to.

He is my dream podcast interview. But I know if I had him on the ButteCast, it would turn into the Chris Farley Show.

“You, you, you remember the time you stuck your tongue out in the NFC Championship Game? That was awesome.”

I have really never been big on autographs, but this time is different. We’re talking about Jim McMahon here. He is easily No. 1 on my autograph list.

Now, I have his signature on a football, and I couldn’t be happier.

I will turn 50 in April. Thanks to a couple of buddies and the Punky QB, though, I feel like I am 11 again.

— Bill Foley, who usually acts like he is 15, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.