The legendary defensive tackle had a vibrant personality that made him well-known in Chicago for many years and a perfect fit for the world of professional wrestling.
Steve McMichael, a standout defensive tackle on the Chicago Bears’ renowned 1985 Super Bowl-winning team, possessed a larger-than-life persona that endeared him to the Windy City’s residents for decades and naturally led him to a career in professional wrestling. Sadly, he passed away at the age of 67 after battling ALS.
McMichael died Wednesday afternoon, his publicist, Betsy Shepherd, told The Associated Press.
Recognized as an All-Pro player in 1985 and 1987, McMichael was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024. He created a record by playing in 191 consecutive games for the Bears from 1981 to 1993 and is second only to Richard Dent on the team’s all-time sacks list with 92 1/2 sacks. McMichael’s final NFL season was with the Green Bay Packers in 1994.
Whether he was terrorizing opponents or discussing the Bears on sports talk radio, the man known as “Ming The Merciless” and “Mongo” after the character in “Blazing Saddles” who knocked out a horse remained a prominent presence in Chicago long after his playing days ended. He also spent five years in professional wrestling in the late 1990s.
McMichael’s brash personality and willingness to say whatever was on his mind made him a natural for the squared circle. He began working for World Championship Wrestling at the height of the “Monday Night Wars” with the World Wrestling Federation, starting as a color commentator and later joining Ric Flair in the “Four Horsemen” group.
McMichael revealed in April 2021 that he was battling ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control.
“I promise you, this epitaph that I’m going to have on me now? This ain’t ever how I envisioned this was going to end,” McMichael told the Chicago Tribune.
McMichael had been experiencing tingling in his arms for some time that he figured was a neck or spine issue stemming from his playing days or his work as a wrestler. A neurosurgeon at the Mayo Clinic suggested in September 2020 that he had ALS. McMichael sought other opinions, and in January 2021, doctors in Chicago confirmed the diagnosis.
Though he mostly retreated from public life following his announcement, photos posted on social media by friends and former teammates showed his decline. McMichael went from a 270-pound giant who used to blast through linebackers and drive wrestlers headfirst into the mat with the “Mongo spike” to someone who was rail-thin, bedridden and hooked up to machines as his body failed him.
“He’s scared to die and he shouldn’t be because he’s the most badass man I’ve ever known inside and out,” his wife, Misty McMichael, told The Associated Press prior to his Hall of Fame induction on Aug. 3, 2024. “He’s a good man. He’s gonna be in heaven before any of us, so I don’t know what he’s afraid of. But I’ve told him to please hang on ’til the (induction) and then, you know, I don’t want to see him suffer anymore. He’s been suffering.”
Born in Houston, McMichael’s parents separated when he was about 2. His mom, Betty, married an oil company executive named E.V. McMichael, and the younger McMichael considered him his dad and took on his surname.
The family moved to Freer, Texas, and McMichael went on to letter in football, basketball, baseball, track, tennis and golf as a senior. A catcher, he preferred baseball. The Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals showed interest, but his parents wanted him to go to college.
He received recruiting letters for football from about 75 schools. Bear Bryant wanted to use him as a tight end at Alabama, while Darrell Royal recruited him to Texas as a defensive end. McMichael went on to star for the Longhorns from 1976-79. Although his freshman season was marred by the death of his stepfather, he became a consensus first-team All-American as a senior and entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
The New England Patriots drafted McMichael in the third round in 1980. He didn’t last long, appearing in six games as a rookie before getting released prior to his second season. McMichael would play hard on and off the field, getting in fights in practice and taking in Boston’s nightlife afterward.
“They looked at me and said, ‘Steve, we think you’re the criminal element in the league. Get out,’” McMichael said in his Gridiron Greats Hall of Fame induction speech in 2019.
The same traits that apparently led to a ticket out of New England were welcomed in Chicago. In that same speech, McMichael recalled walking into founder George Halas’ office — “It was like I was walking into a 1920 gangster movie and he was James Cagney” — when he signed with Chicago.
“Papa Bear” made it clear. “You know what he said to me, guys?” McMichael said. “I’ve heard what kind of dirty rat you are in practice. Don’t change, Steve.”
His nasty demeanor and oversized personality made McMichael one of the most feared players on arguably the greatest defense ever assembled. He played alongside Hall of Famers Dent, Mike Singletary and Dan Hampton, and the 1985 Bears left a trail of battered and bruised foes in their wake as they shuffled to the franchise’s lone Super Bowl championship. McMichael was an All-Pro that season with eight sacks.
He played 15 years in the NFL — 13 with Chicago before his final season with the rival Packers.
Soon after his career ended, McMichael started getting involved with professional wrestling.
In April 1995, he was in Lawrence Taylor’s corner at the WWF’s WrestleMania when the New York Giants great met Bam Bam Bigelow. Later that year, he started with WCW as a commentator.
McMichael began his in-ring career in 1996, feuding with Flair over then-wife Debra McMichael, then a wrestling valet. He remained with the company through 1999.
He later hosted a Bears pregame show on WMVP-AM and coached the Chicago Slaughter of the Indoor Football League from 2007 until the team’s final season in 2013.
McMichael and Debra divorced in 1998. He married the former Misty Davenport in 2001, and their daughter, Macy, was born in 2008.
AP NFL:
