Mike Ditka has died at 86. His family announced his death on Friday, saying, “Mike will be missed beyond measure and remembered forever,” as reported by CBS Sports. No cause of death was given.
Before he was “Da Coach,” Ditka changed what a tight end could be. The Bears took him fifth overall in 1961 out of Pitt, and he won Offensive Player of the Year as a rookie. He became the first tight end in NFL history to top 1,000 receiving yards in a season and helped Chicago win the 1963 NFL title. Later, in Dallas, he caught a touchdown pass from Roger Staubach in the Cowboys’ 24-3 Super Bowl VI win over Miami, then won another ring as a special teams coach on Tom Landry’s staff. He’s in both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame.
He came back to Chicago as head coach in 1982, won Coach of the Year twice, and led the 1985 Bears to an 18-1 record and a 46-10 Super Bowl XX win over New England. He coached the Bears for 11 seasons and later had a short run with the Saints in 1997, the era when New Orleans traded its draft picks to land Ricky Williams.
The IAHHM Take
The ’85 Bears weren’t just a great team. They were a pop culture moment. That squad released “The Super Bowl Shuffle” in December 1985, a rap record by NFL players that reached No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a Grammy nomination (it lost to Prince’s “Kiss”). Athletes rapping on wax is everywhere now. The Shuffle was one of the first times it went mainstream.
That team also had serious HBCU roots: Walter Payton came out of Jackson State and Richard Dent out of Tennessee State, and both were on that record. Ditka himself kept it simple about that championship: “We won the Super Bowl because of our defense.”
What’s your favorite Ditka moment: the playing days, the ’85 run, or the sideline fire? Drop it below.
More: IAHHM Sports.
Source: CBS Sports | Wikipedia: The Super Bowl Shuffle
