Steve McMichael was a man with a huge personality, a man for careers on the football field and wrestling ring. From the football field to the wrestling ring, this hugely charismatic character, also known as Mongo or “Ming The Merciless,” left in his trail a slew of defeated foes when he was playing successfully with the Chicago Bears.
A key defensive tackle of the Bears’ legendary 1985 Super Bowl-winning team, McMichael had remained a dearly beloved figure in Chicago for many years until he passed away on Wednesday. He had been suffering from ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and fought bravely against it after succumbing to it at the age of 67. The news was confirmed by Betsy Shepherd, who worked as his publicist.
He played consecutive games from 1981 to 1993, which helped him set a franchise record. Because of this, he was ranked second for the Bears all-time in sacks. He played his last season in the NFL in 1994 with the Green Bay Packers.
With his bold character and straight-talking nature, McMichael naturally took on the world of pro wrestling, commencing his career in the 1990s during the brutal ‘Monday Night Wars’ as color commentator before joining Ric Flair’s ‘Four Horsemen.’
In April 2021, he publicly announced his diagnosis of ALS, a degenerative brain and nerve disease that attacks motor neurons and leads to the subsequent 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 recalled. He had been having some tingling sensations in his arms, which he thought were from past injuries sustained in football or wrestling.
However, it has been suggested by a neurosurgeon from the Mayo Clinic that the issue might have been the ALS. This was later confirmed in January 2021 by doctors in Chicago.
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