No. 66, 76, 90 | |||||||||||||||
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Position: | Defensive tackle | ||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||
Born: | Houston, Texas, U.S. | October 17, 1957||||||||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||||
Weight: | 270 lb (122 kg) | ||||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||||
High school: | Freer (Freer, Texas) | ||||||||||||||
College: | Texas (1976–1979) | ||||||||||||||
NFL draft: | 1980 / round: 3 / pick: 73 | ||||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||||
As a player: | |||||||||||||||
As a coach: | |||||||||||||||
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Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||
Regular season: | 58–34 (.630) | ||||||||||||||
Postseason: | 4–4 (.500) | ||||||||||||||
Career: | 62–38 (.620) | ||||||||||||||
Stephen Douglas McMichael (born October 17, 1957), nicknamed "Mongo", [1] "Ming", and "Ming the Merciless", [2] is an American former professional football player and professional wrestler. He was a defensive tackle for 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily for the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the Texas Longhorns and was selected by the New England Patriots in the 1980 NFL draft. After his professional football career he would go on to professional wrestling in WCW and was part of The Four Horsemen stable.
During his time with the Bears, he was a two-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro, winning Super Bowl XX with the team. He ended his football career with the Green Bay Packers, before making appearances for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) ahead of WrestleMania XI.
He became a professional wrestler with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he became a member of the Four Horsemen stable and was a one time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion.
Before retiring from public appearances, McMichael was a regular presence on Chicago sports radio and was the namesake of a restaurant in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. [3]
From 2007 to 2013, McMichael was the head coach of the Chicago Slaughter of the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL). He campaigned unsuccessfully to be mayor of Romeoville, Illinois.
In 2021, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). McMichael was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024.
McMichael was born on October 17, 1957, in Houston, Texas. His parents separated before his second birthday, and his mother later remarried E.V. McMichael, an oil company executive whose surname McMichael adopted. He has three other siblings: older brother John Richard and younger sisters Kathy and Sharon. The family moved to Freer, where he attended Freer High School. In his senior year, he lettered in six sports: football, basketball, baseball, track, tennis and golf. Baseball was his preferred sport, and whilst playing as a catcher, he batted .450 in his senior year, garnering attention from the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds. [4]
McMichael's performances for his high school football team saw him being offered scholarships by 75 institutions. He decided to attend the University of Texas at Austin. He played as a defensive tackle for the Texas Longhorns football team from 1976 to 1979, but his freshman season was marred by the death of his stepfather. In his senior season, he was a consensus first-team All-American, and he was defensive MVP at the 1979 Hula Bowl. [4] During his time at Texas he was an All-Southwest conference choice in 1978 and 1979, the team MVP in 1979 and the backup place kicker in 1977. In 1999 he was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor
On July 17, 2010, McMichael was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. [5]
McMichael was drafted out of Texas in 1980 by the New England Patriots but was cut before his second season. The Chicago Bears signed him as a free agent in 1981. He became one of their starting defensive tackles and helped them to a Super Bowl win in 1985. [6] He had a streak of 101 games started until 1990, when his playing time was reduced. He led the Bears with 111⁄2 sacks in 1988. He had 108 tackles in 1989. McMichael was named to the NFC's Pro Bowl teams for the 1986 and 1987 seasons.
McMichael gained notability in a 1991 game against the New York Jets. With the Bears down 13–6 with 1:54 remaining, McMichael forced a Blair Thomas fumble and recovered it at the New York 36. Quarterback Jim Harbaugh then threw a game-tying touchdown to Neal Anderson with :18 left in the game. The Bears went on to win in overtime when Harbaugh scored on a 1-yard TD run. [7] Bears coach Mike Ditka said in 2005 that McMichael was the toughest player he had ever coached. [8] He played with the Green Bay Packers in 1994 before retiring. Aside from his "Mongo" moniker, McMichael was also nicknamed "Ming the Merciless", or "Ming" for short. [2]
"Thank God New England got rid of me. Some teams, they want you to have a certain image. Other teams, like this one, they just want you to get down and dirty. I'm really proud to be a Bear. The Patriots, yeah, they thought I was a little weird. And I guess I am. But here they don't care, long as you play hard. The town, the coach, the team — it's Steve McMichael. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."
"For 13 years, I helped the Bears beat the Packers every year. I whupped their ass, right? So the last year, I went up there on my last leg and I wasn't any good anymore. So I stole their money and whipped their ass again!"
In August 2023, he was named a finalist for the Seniors ballot of the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the class of 2024. He had previously been nominated in 2014 and 2015. [11] On February 8, 2024, McMichael was officially selected to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. [12] He was formally inducted on August 3, 2024, with his sister Kathy delivering a speech on his behalf. Members of the 1985 Bears traveled to his home to share the celebration with him. [13]
Steve McMichael | |
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Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Steve McMichael |
Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) |
Billed weight | 270 lb (122 kg) |
Trained by | Terry Taylor |
Debut | 1995 |
Retired | 1999 |
After the end of his NFL career, he appeared at ringside in the WWF for Lawrence Taylor at WrestleMania XI on April 2, 1995, in Hartford, Connecticut. Taylor was wrestling Bam Bam Bigelow and there were several football players at ringside to keep wrestlers from interfering in the match. [14] During the March 20 episode of Monday Night Raw , McMichael provided guest commentary with Vince McMahon and would later brawl with Kama Mustafa, one of Bigelow's comrades. The fight was all over the arena floor and almost into the stands, knocking over the broadcast table, soon being broken up by personnel. [15] Taylor ended up winning the later match.
In 1995, McMichael was hired by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). On September 4, 1995, he made his debut with the company as the pro-babyface color commentator on the premiere of WCW Monday Nitro , with Bobby Heenan fulfilling his typical pro-heel commentator role alongside lead broadcaster Eric Bischoff. [16] McMichael would root for the popular wrestlers during matches, would bicker with Heenan on a regular basis, and brought his dog Pepe with him to the broadcast booth.
In April 1996, Ric Flair started hitting on McMichael's wife Debra, who would sit at ringside during WCW Monday Nitro . McMichael challenged Flair and Arn Anderson to a match with his partner Kevin Greene. He trained with Randy Savage (he was actually trained by Terry Taylor at the WCW Power Plant), while Flair and Anderson got Heenan to be their coach for the match.
The match took place at The Great American Bash. During the match, Debra and Greene's wife were chased to the back by Woman and Miss Elizabeth, who were Flair's valets. Debra came back with Woman and Elizabeth, and she had a briefcase full of money and a Four Horsemen T-shirt. McMichael accepted it and hit Greene in the head with the briefcase. [17] McMichael's first singles match was against Joe Gomez at Bash at the Beach. [18]
He went on to feud with the Dungeon of Doom with the other Horsemen, and he had problems with Jeff Jarrett over the affections of Debra in late 1996 through early 1997. Women would trash Debra, causing McMichael and Chris Benoit to step in each time. The turning point in the McMichael–Jarrett feud was at SuperBrawl VII. McMichael wrestled Jarrett, and if Jarrett won, he was an official Horseman. Debra interfered for Jarrett, so he would win. [19] Then McMichael and Jarrett had to team, and they bickered at first but later became a solid tag team. McMichael wrestled two football players in 1997. He beat Reggie White at Slamboree and lost to Kevin Greene at The Great American Bash, which saw McMichael slapped by Greene's mother at ringside. [20] [21]
In July 1997, Jarrett was kicked out of the Horsemen, and Debra soon left McMichael for Jarrett. McMichael got his revenge when he defeated Jarrett for his WCW United States Heavyweight Championship on the August 21 episode of Clash of the Champions XXXV . [22] Just weeks earlier, Arn Anderson had been forced to retire due to an injury, and Curt Hennig took his place in the Horsemen. At Fall Brawl, Hennig turned on the Horsemen and joined the nWo, during the War Games match that the Horsemen were involved in. McMichael was handcuffed to the steel cage surrounding the ring along with Benoit, and neither man could defend Flair from the 5-on-1 assault from the nWo; the match ended after McMichael surrendered to stop the nWo from attacking Flair, although Hennig would still slam the cage door on Flair's head (which was edited out of the home video release, but included on the WWE Network in full), even after the submission was made. [23] The next night on Nitro, McMichael dropped his United States title to Hennig, and Flair disbanded the Horsemen. [24]
McMichael went after Debra's stable of wrestlers that included Jarrett, Eddie Guerrero and Alex Wright. Debra hired Goldberg to get McMichael, and he became one of Goldberg's first victims in November 1997. Goldberg stole McMichael's Super Bowl ring and weeks later McMichael hit Goldberg with a pipe and reclaimed it. [25] [26] He briefly helped Benoit feud with Raven's Flock in January 1998 and then got into a feud with The British Bulldog, in which he broke his hand during a match at SuperBrawl VIII in February 1998. [27] McMichael returned in June and had a feud with Stevie Ray and helped reform the Four Horsemen in October with Flair, Benoit, Dean Malenko and manager Arn Anderson. They feuded with the nWo until McMichael made his final TV appearance on the February 8, 1999, episode of Nitro. His last match was on March 6, 1999 teaming with Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko defeating Curt Hennig, Barry Windham and Wrath on a house show.
McMichael returned to professional wrestling for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's flagship pay-per-view, Bound For Glory, where he refereed the Monster's Ball Match. This match was notable for McMichael's extremely slow cadence for a three count. [28]
McMichael co-hosted a Bears pre-game show with Jeff Dickerson on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. He was the head coach of the Chicago Slaughter of the Indoor Football League from 2007 until the team's final season in 2013.
McMichael and fellow 1985 Chicago Bears alumni Dan Hampton and Otis Wilson performed in a rock and roll oldies band (with entertaining satirical Mike Ditka verses) called the Chicago 6. [29]
On August 7, 2001, during the seventh-inning stretch of a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Colorado Rockies at Wrigley Field, McMichael, who was visiting the Cubs television booth, took a turn as the guest singer for "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". Earlier in the game in the bottom of the 6th inning, home plate umpire Ángel Hernández had controversially called Cubs infielder Ron Coomer out at the plate. Before singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game, McMichael announced to those in attendance over the PA system that he would "have some speaks" with Hernández after the game, presumably as a result of Hernández's call on Coomer. Crew chief Randy Marsh ordered McMichael to be ejected from the ballpark, and the umpires later received an apology for McMichael's conduct from then-Cubs general manager Andy MacPhail. [30]
On August 16, 2012, McMichael announced his intentions to run for mayor of Romeoville, Illinois. [31] He lost the race to incumbent John Noak, garnering 39 percent of the vote. [32]
In 1985, McMichael married Debra Marshall. They divorced in 1998. [33]
McMichael married Misty Davenport on March 24, 2001. [4] [34] Their daughter, Macy Dale, was born in 2008. [35]
On April 23, 2021, McMichael announced that he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). [36]
The Les Turner ALS Foundation awarded McMichael with the ALS Courage Award on September 18, 2021. [37] [38]
Lawrence Wendell Pfohl, better known by the ring name Lex Luger, is an American retired professional wrestler, bodybuilder, and football player. He is best known for his work with Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation.
Richard Morgan Fliehr, known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career spanning over 50 years in 6 decades.
Randy Mario Poffo, better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler and professional baseball player, best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
Steve Borden, better known by the ring name Sting, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is under a "Legends deal". Borden is best known for his time spent as the face of two American professional wrestling promotions: World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1988 to 2001 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2006 to 2014, as well as his retirement run in AEW from 2020 to 2024. Although the World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW in 2001, Borden did not sign with them at the time; he would later sign with WWE from 2014 to 2020. Prior to WCW, he wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP)—which became WCW in 1988—the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), and the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). Borden wore face-paint throughout his career, and in 1996, changed from the multi-colored paint of his "Surfer" persona to the monochromatic paint of the "Crow" gimmick; he also incorporated elements of The Joker in the later part of his time in TNA.
Debra Gale Marshall is an American retired professional wrestling valet, professional wrestler, and actress. She is best known for her time with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) between 1995 and 1998 as Queen Debra and with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) between 1998 and 2002 as simply Debra.
Martin Anthony Lunde, better known by his ring name Arn Anderson, is an American professional wrestling road agent, author, and retired professional wrestler. Although he is widely regarded as one of the greatest tag team wrestlers in history, he also had a successful singles career and became a four-time NWA/WCW World Television Champion, which he often called his "world title".
The Four Horsemen is an American professional wrestling stable who originally consisted of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard.
Greed was the final professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It took place on March 18, 2001 from the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida. Greed replaced the promotion's March PPV event Uncensored which was held from 1995 to 2000. The pay-per-view event took place three days before the final episode of Thunder and eight days before the final episode of Monday Nitro.
Harlem Heat was a professional wrestling tag team composed of two brothers, Booker and Lash Huffman. The team achieved their greatest success in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where they won the WCW World Tag Team Championship a record ten times. Kevin Powers of WWE remarked: "When debating the greatest tag team in WCW history, Harlem Heat and The Steiner Brothers are more or less interchangeable."
Kevin Darwin Greene was an American professional football player who was a defensive end and linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers, and San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1985 through 1999. He had 160 sacks in his career, which ranks third among NFL career sack leaders, and he was voted to the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.
Joe Gomez is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the 1990s.
The 1997 Starrcade was the 15th annual Starrcade professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was held on December 28, 1997, at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C.
SuperBrawl VII was the seventh SuperBrawl professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The event took place on February 23, 1997 from the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California.
The 1997 Halloween Havoc was the ninth annual Halloween Havoc professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It took place on October 26, 1997, from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The 1999 Mayhem was the inaugural Mayhem professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW), presented by Electronic Arts. The event took place on November 21, 1999 from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The 1995 World War 3 was the inaugural World War 3 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The event took place on November 26, 1995, from the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.
The 1996 World War 3 was the second World War 3 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The event took place on November 24, 1996, from the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia. Similar to the Royal Rumble format, this event marked for the first time that the winner of the World War 3 battle royal would receive a future title shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
The 1997 World War 3 was the third World War 3 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The event took place on November 23, 1997 from The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
The 1996 Slamboree was the fourth Slamboree professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The event took place on May 19, 1996 from the Riverside Centroplex in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The 1996 Great American Bash was the sixth Great American Bash professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and 10th Great American Bash event overall. It took place on June 16, 1996, at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. This was the fifth Great American Bash held at this venue after the 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991 events.
1997 - At the final WCW Clash of the Champions card, Steve McMichael defeated Jeff Jarrett to win the WCW United States Title in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Chicago Slaughter would like to congratulate head coach Steve McMichael and his wife Misty on the birth of their first child Tuesday afternoon. Macy Dale McMichael was born at 4:12 p.m. weighing in at 6 lbs. 12 oz. and measuring 19" long. Mother, baby and dad are all doing great