HOMER GLEN, IL — The day everyone — especially Steve “Mongo” McMichael and his wife, Misty — has been waiting for is here: At long last, the former Chicago Bears defensive lineman found out he will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
McMichael, a member of the Chicago Bears’ legendary defense that led the team to a 1985 Super Bowl championship and that many consider the best of all time, was diagnosed with ALS — more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — in 2021. In the nearly 3 years since, the once-dominant defensive tackle and professional wrestler has lost his ability to move or speak.
“He knows he’s getting in the Hall of Fame, and he has the biggest smile on his face,” Misty McMichael, who has been married to the Bears legend for nearly 23 years, told Patch on Thursday. “He already started his induction speech and has said, ‘Hello, Chicago; thank you, Chicago.'”
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For the iconic football player, making it into the Hall of Fame has been exactly what he has needed to hang on in his fight with ALS.
“I hope he stays alive for the next year because I know he will if he gets inducted,” Misty McMichael told Patch last year. “I know he’ll stay alive. He’s tough. He’s not human. He probably should have been dead already. The doctors have been giving him six months for a year.”
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RELATED: ‘It’s Now Or Never’: Homer Glen’s McMichael Awaits Hall Of Fame Call
Although McMichael has round-the-clock care, Misty McMichael has served as her husband’s caregiver, watching as the once gregarious football star who once ran unsuccessfully to be Romeoville’s mayor withered away into almost an unrecognizable shell of his former self.
For the past several months, she has also taken on the role of campaign manager, pushing to get McMichael into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Part of that meant becoming his voice.
“Steve has been the most amazing football player and man and deserves this more than anybody that I know,” she said on Thursday. “He’s worked so hard for this his whole life, and I’m just so very proud and happy for him. I’ve put a lot of work into it myself, and it was all worth it. It’s been an honor and a privilege to help him get where he needs to be: enshrined in the Hall of Fame forever.”
RELATED: McMichael Named Finalist For Pro Football Hall Of Fame
As one of 12 finalists, the star player had to receive 80 percent of the vote by the selection committee during Super Bowl week to be elected and enshrined into the Hall of Fame.
“The best-kept secret in the NFL world: They’ve known that Steve should’ve been in the Hall of Fame a long time ago,” Misty McMichael said, “but I wanted the whole world to know. … I don’t want it to be a secret. I want the whole world to know that he’s a Hall of Famer and always has been and always will be and deserves it more than anybody I know.”
McMichael spent 13 of his 15 NFL seasons with the Bears — playing 191 games of the 213 in his career — and was named a first-team All-Pro twice while making three all-NFL All-Pro teams. He finished his career with 95 sacks, 13 forced fumbles, 17 fumble recoveries and three safeties.
When people hear the name “Steve McMichael,” Misty McMichael said she wants people to think, “There goes my hero [because] he’s everyone’s hero.”
“He is a gridiron great, one of the greatest of all time,” she said. “There will never be another one like him, hasn’t been since or in the future.”
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