Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame tight end who coached the Chicago Bears to the only Super Bowl title in franchise history, has died at 86. His family announced his death Friday, according to ABC7 Chicago.
The family called him a “beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend,” and said the world knew him as a Hall of Fame player and coach while they knew him as the heart of their family, On3 reported. “Mike will be missed beyond measure and remembered forever,” the statement said. The reports reviewed by the Chronicle did not give a cause or an exact date of death, and the Bears had not been quoted in them.
Ditka grew up in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and starred at the University of Pittsburgh in football, basketball and baseball. He was a unanimous All-American in 1960, and Pitt retired his No. 89 in 1997, according to On3 and ABC7. The Bears made him the fifth overall pick in the 1961 draft. He was the NFL’s Rookie of the Year, and his 12-year career with the Bears, Eagles and Cowboys produced 427 catches, 5,812 yards and 43 touchdowns. He won the 1963 NFL championship with Chicago and Super Bowl VI with Dallas.
He stayed with the Cowboys as an assistant under Tom Landry, winning a second Super Bowl ring in the 1977 season, then returned to Chicago when George Halas hired him as head coach in 1982. Over 11 seasons, Yahoo Sports reports, his Bears went 106-62, reached the playoffs seven times and played in three NFC Championship Games. The 1985 team went 15-1 and beat New England 46-10 in Super Bowl XX. Ditka was fired after the 1992 season.
Ditka was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988, the first tight end so honored. He later coached the New Orleans Saints from 1997 to 1999, going 15-33. In 1999 the Saints traded eight picks, including two first-rounders, to Washington to draft Ricky Williams, ABC7 reported. He then became a fixture on NBC and ESPN broadcasts, and in Chicago restaurants, commercials and a “Saturday Night Live” sketch, and he founded the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund to help struggling former players, according to Yahoo Sports.
Funeral and memorial arrangements were not included in the early reports. The Chronicle will update this story when the family announces them.
