With his massive frame and larger-than-life persona, Steve McMichael was natural for the gridiron and the squared circle.
The man known as “Mongo” and “Ming The Merciless” left a trail of battered and beaten opponents during a Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears. Then he did the same as a professional wrestler.
McMichael, a star defensive tackle on the Bears’ famed 1985 Super Bowl championship team who remained a fixture in the Windy City for decades, died Wednesday following a battle with ALS. He was 67.
McMichael died at Lightways Hospice in suburban Joliet, his publicist, Betsy Shepherd, told The Associated Press.
An All-Pro in 1985 and 1987, McMichael was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024. He played in a franchise-record 191 consecutive games from 1981 to 1993 and ranks second to Richard Dent on the Bears’ career sacks list with 92 1/2. His final NFL season was with Green Bay in 1994.
McMichael’s brash personality and willingness to say whatever was on his mind made him a perfect fit for pro wrestling. He began working for World Championship Wrestling in the 1990s 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 family and friends showed his decline. McMichael went from a 270-pound giant who used to blast through blockers 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. But longtime friend Dave Siden remembered him as master storyteller and a generous man who would sign over his preseason paychecks to the team trainers as a token of appreciation and buy baskets of toys for children. Through McMichael, Siden met golfer Ben Crenshaw and went backstage at wrestling events.
“I knew him as one of the nicest, most giving friends you could have,” Siden said, his voice cracking.
McMichael played alongside Hall of Famers Dent, Mike Singletary and Dan Hampton, and the 1985 Bears, led by their dominant defense, shuffled their way 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.
“It’s a cruel irony that the Bears’ Ironman succumbed to this dreaded disease,” Bears chairman George McCaskey said in a statement. “Yet Steve showed us throughout his struggle that his real strength was internal, and he demonstrated on a daily basis his class, his dignity and his humanity. He is at peace now. We offer our condolences to Misty, (daughter) Macy, the rest of Steve’s family, his teammates, and countless friends and fans of a great Bear.”
Pro Football Hall of Fame president and CEO Jim Porter said in a statement: “Steve McMichael told everyone he would fight ALS with the same tenacity he showed for 15 seasons in the National Football League. And he did just that. Everyone who played with or against Steve shares the same opinion: No one battled longer or harder from the snap until the whistle than Steve the player.”
Soon after his career ended, McMichael got involved with 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.
“The World Just Lost The Incredible Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael!” Flair posted on X. “He Was My Best Friend Through It All! An Amazing Athlete And Human Being!”
He and Debra divorced in 1998. He married the former Misty Davenport in 2001, and Macy was born in 2008.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.