CHICAGO — Steve McMichael, the charismatic former Chicago Bears Tremendous Bowl champion defensive lineman and ex-WCW skilled wrestler, revealed in an interview with the Chicago Tribune that medical doctors identified him with ALS three months in the past.
“I promise you, this epitaph that I’ll have on me now? This ain’t ever how I envisioned this was going to finish,” McMichael advised the newspaper.
McMichael, 63, now makes use of a specialised wheelchair — that Bears possession volunteered to pay for — after the illness left him unable to make use of his arms and his legs considerably weakened.
“What I was is the antithesis of what I’m now,” stated McMichael, nicknamed “Mongo” in tribute to Alex Karras’ character in Mel Brooks’ 1974 comedy, “Blazing Saddles.” “It is a humbling factor, brother.”
The five-time All-Professional was drafted within the third spherical by the New England Patriots in 1980 however grew to become a legend in Chicago, the place he began 191 consecutive video games and starred on protection from 1981 to 1993. He’s nonetheless second in franchise historical past with 92.5 sacks, and McMichael’s friends thought-about him one of many smartest defensive tackles ever to play the place.
McMichael spent his remaining NFL season (1994) with the hated Green Bay Packers however favored to inform folks in retirement that the one purpose he signed with the Bears’ bitter rival was to “steal their cash and whup their ass once more!”
McMichael has retained his trademark humorousness.
“I assumed I used to be prepared for something,” McMichael stated of his ALS prognosis. “However man, it will sneak up on you want a cheap-shotting Inexperienced Bay Packer.”