HOMER GLEN. Ill. (WGN) — Chicago Bears great and legendary sports personality Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael died at age 67 on Wednesday, following a years-long battle with ALS.
McMichael had recently been moved to hospice care on Wednesday, a source told 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.
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Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, left, talks with Steve McMichael, former Texas football player, at an inductees news conference for the 2009 National Football Foundation Hall of Fame, in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) -
FILE – Former NFL player Steve McMichael, who played defensive tackle at the Univ. of Texas, autographs a football as he stands on the float at the parade during the Hall Enshrinement Festival, Saturday July 17, 2010, in South Bend, Ind. Randy Gradishar and Steve McMichael, key members from dominant defenses in the 1970s and ’80s, and game-breaking AFL receiver Art Powell are finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2023. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond, File) -
FILE – Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka is carried off the field by Steve McMichael, left, and William Perry after the team won Super Bowl XX against the New England Patriots in New Orleans on Jan. 26, 1986. A poll by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted Sept. 9-12, 2022, finds that about 3 in 10 Americans say they feel God plays a role in determining which team goes home the victor. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin, File) -
Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton, seated left, jokingly interviews teammate Steve McMichael, right, Jan. 8, 1986, at Suwanee, Ga, at Atlanta Falcons training camp during preparations for Sunday’s NFL playoff game with the Los Angeles Rams at Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Knoblock) -
Chicago Bears’ Steve McMichael (76), William “Refrigerator” Perry (72) and Louis Age (79) share a laugh during Bears camp in Lake Forest, Ill., July 15, 1993. The Bears will travel to Platteville, Wis., for their training camp. (AP Photo/Mark Elias) -
Chicago Bears nine-time Pro Bowler Mike Singletary (50) gets a bear hug from teammate Steve McMichael prior to the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Chicago, Dec. 13, 1992. After 12 seasons with the Bears, Singletary is retiring, making this his last home game. Others are unidentified. (AP Photo/David Boe) -
Green Bay Packers’ Steve McMichael watches from the sideline during the third quarter of their NFC division playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys in Irving, Texas, Sunday, Jan. 8, 1995. Dallas won 35-9. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
Here is a recap, in memoriam, of the life of one of Chicago’s most profound professional athletes.
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 career in pro football
McMichael, originally drafted in the third round of the 1980 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, played 15 seasons in the NFL, 13 of which were with the Bears.
McMichael played only six games with the Patriots his rookie year before being released by the team before the start of the 1981 regular season.
McMichael signed with Chicago shortly thereafter, and nearly two months into the regular season, the former Longhorn got his first serious opportunity, backing up another former Bears hall of famer, Alan Page, after one of Chicago’s starting d-linemen went down with an injury.
McMichael went on to become a starter on the defensive line, and make a franchise record 191 consecutive starts in a Bears uniform, starting in week 7 of 1981, lasting all the way until week 18 of 1993.
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!”
Life inside the wrestling ring
After his NFL career came to an end, McMichael began making appearances ringside in the WWF, first appearing at the behest of Lawrence Taylor at WrestleMania XI in Hartford, Connecticut in April 1995.
McMichael spent five years in professional wrestling between the WWF and WCW, both providing commentary and appearing in the ring himself, most notably as a member of the Four Horsemen, featuring Ric Flair, and as a one-time WCW United States champion.
Toward the end of his pro wrestling tilt, McMichael returned from a hand injury in 1998 and helped reform the Four Horsemen after the group previously disbanded. He made his final pro wrestling appearance at the time on Feb. 8, 1999, in an episode of Nitro.
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.
McMichael’s wife, Misty, often attributed his 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.
McMichael was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on August 3, 2024.