HOMER GLEN. Ill. (
WGN
) — Chicago Bears great and legendary sports personality Steve “Mongo” McMichael died at age 67 on Wednesday.
McMichael had recently been moved to hospice care on Wednesday, a source told Nexstar’s
WGN News
, after being removed from a ventilator in the ICU. WGN’s Jarrett Payton confirmed the passing on X, saying, “With deep sorrow, I share that Steve McMichael passed at 5:28 PM after a brave fight with
#ALS
, surrounded by loved ones. I’m grateful to have been with him in his final moments. Please keep Steve and his family in your prayers.”
From playing high school sports in what amounted to a speck of a south Texas town, to garnering fame and fortune as one of the most outspoken members of arguably the NFL’s most vaunted defense across the game’s great history, and achieving celebrity status off the gridiron in the professional wrestling ring, McMichael’s “live for the moment” personality endeared himself to many across Chicago and the greater United States.
Family and early life in Texas
McMichael was born on Oct. 17, 1957 in Houston, Texas, where he and his three siblings — older brother John and younger sisters Kathy and Sharon — were initially raised by his mom, Betty Ruth, and step-father, EV McMichael, Whose last name he took as his own.
After moving to Freer, Texas, McMichael lettered in six sports in high school — football, basketball, baseball, track, tennis and golf — with baseball being his preferred sport. His senior year at Freer High School, McMichael batted .450 and drew MLB draft interest from teams like the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds, but overwhelming interest from colleges and universities across the country led him to pursue football at the next level.
After receiving dozens of college football scholarship offers, McMichael accepted one from the University of Texas-Austin, where he played defensive tackle from 1976-79. By his senior season with the Longhorns, McMichael was a consensus first team all-American and voted defensive MVP of the 1979 Hula Bowl.
McMichael went on to be inducted into the Texas Longhorns Hall of Fame in 1999, and then again into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
McMichael married his wife, then Misty Davenport, on March 24, 2001, and nearly seven years later, the couple gave birth to their daughter, Macy Dale, on Jan. 22, 2008.
McMichael’s careers in the NFL, wrestling
McMichael, a larger than life player and personality who starred along the defensive line of the iconic 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears, spent 13 seasons in the Windy City, where he accumulated the second-most sacks in franchise history (92.5) and set the club record for consecutive games played (191). He spent his final season with the Green Bay Packers.
Colloquially referred to as ‘Mongo’ first by teammates, then later on by Chicago sports faithful, McMichael accumulated 92.5 of his 95 career sacks while with the Bears, good for third all-time among NFL defensive tackles, behind John Randle (137.5) and Aaron Donald (111), and second all-time with Chicago, trailing only former teammate Richard Dent (137.5).
While with the Bears from 1982-91, McMichael and Dent — along with other notable defenders like Mike Singletary and Dan Hampton — helped guide the Chicago defense toward leading the NFL in fewest points, rushing yards and total yards allowed over that time period.
McMichael played with the Bears until 1994, when he signed a one-year deal with the Green Bay Packers and retired after the season.
“For 13 years, I helped the Bears beat the Packers every year,” McMichael told the Chicago Tribune’s
Dan Wiederer in 2019
. “I whipped their a*s, right? So the last year, I went up there on my last leg and I wasn’t any good anymore. So I stole their money and whipped their a*s again!”
After his playing days came to a close, McMichael also spent five years in professional wrestling in the late 1990s, where he worked for World Championship Wrestling at the height of the “Monday Night Wars” with the World Wrestling Federation.
McMichael started there as a color commentator and later joined Ric Flair in the “Four Horsemen” group.
McMichael made a brief re-entrance into professional wrestling in 2008, when he
refereed
the Monster’s Ball Match on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling’s pay-per-view event, Bound for Glory.
Other endeavors McMichael embarked upon after pro wrestling included a Chicago Bears pre-game show on ESPN 1000 with Jeff Dickerson, and serving as the head coach of the Chicago Slaughter, a member of the Indoor Football League (IFL), from 2007 until the league’s closure in 2013.
Battle with ALS
In Jan. 2021, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and has been battling the disease with the help of his wife Misty at their Homer Glen home ever since.
According to the
ALS Association
, ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
”Amyotrophic” comes from the Greek language. “A” means no. “Myo” refers to muscle. “Trophic” means nourishment. So, amyotrophic means “no muscle nourishment,” and when a muscle has no nourishment, it “atrophies” or wastes away.
Family, friends and fans showed continued support for McMichael in his battle with ALS over the years, hosting several fundraisers to help pay for medical bills stemming from various medications, therapies, hospital stays and medical treatments.
McMicahel’s wife Misty often attributed him being able to fight the disease for so long because he wanted to see the day he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame and his bust unveiled in Canton, Ohio.
While he could not make the trip to Ohio, a
special celebration
was held at his home in Homer Glen.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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