Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame tight end who later coached the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl XX championship, has died at 86, his family announced Friday morning.
Known as “Iron Mike” and “Da Coach,” Ditka won an NFL title with the Bears as a player in 1963 and another as their head coach in 1985. According to the Bears, he is the only person in the league’s modern era to win a championship with the same team in both roles.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of legendary and treasured Chicago Bear and Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Ditka,” the Bears said in a statement.
The team said his impact on the organization “over decades as a player, coach, and proud icon and ambassador for our organization, is immeasurable.”
The Bears drafted Ditka fifth overall out of the University of Pittsburgh in 1961. He caught 56 passes for 1,076 yards and 12 touchdowns that season and was named NFL Rookie of the Year.
He made the Pro Bowl in each of his first five seasons and was an All-Pro in 1963 and 1964. In the 1963 championship season, he led the team with 59 catches for 794 yards and eight touchdowns.
His signature play came that year in a road game against the Steelers. Ditka ran over several defenders on a 63-yard catch that set up a late, game-tying field goal.
He ranks first among Bears tight ends and fifth overall on the team’s career receiving list with 4,503 yards. He is sixth with 316 receptions and fourth with 34 touchdown catches.
After six seasons in Chicago, Ditka played two for the Philadelphia Eagles and four for the Dallas Cowboys, winning Super Bowl VI with Dallas. He retired with 427 career receptions, the most by a tight end until Kellen Winslow passed him in 1980.
In 1988, he became the first tight end inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Ditka coached as a Cowboys assistant from 1973 to 1981 and was on the staff when Dallas won Super Bowl XII. A few years after he wrote George Halas a letter asking about the job, Halas hired him as Bears head coach in 1982.
In 11 seasons, Ditka went 112-68 and led the Bears to six NFC Central titles, three NFC Championship Games and the Super Bowl XX win. He was NFL Coach of the Year in 1985 and 1988.
The 1985 Bears went 15-1. They shut out the New York Giants 21-0 and the Los Angeles Rams 24-0 in the playoffs, then beat the New England Patriots 46-10 in the Super Bowl.
Ditka later coached the New Orleans Saints from 1997 to 1999.
The Bears retired his jersey number at halftime of a 2013 Monday night game against the Cowboys, making him the 14th player in team history to receive the honor.
“It’s the consummation of a career,” Ditka said at the time. “It’s one of the greatest things you could be honored with. When you mention [Gale] Sayers and [Dick] Butkus and some of the guys who have had their jerseys retired, it’s an unbelievable group of men and great players in the NFL and for the Chicago Bears. It’s a tremendous honor.”
He was born Michael Keller Dyczko on Oct. 18, 1939, in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, and grew up in nearby Aliquippa. His family changed the surname to Ditka because Dyczko was hard to pronounce.
He played football, basketball and baseball at Aliquippa High School and at Pitt, where he arrived planning to become a dentist. At Pitt he also played linebacker, defensive end and punter, and he won an intramural wrestling title.
After coaching, Ditka worked as a broadcaster for NBC, CBS and ESPN and appeared regularly on Chicago sports radio. While still coaching the Bears, he challenged a radio caller to a fight, gave the man the address of Halas Hall and vowed to “whip your ass.”
He appeared, usually as himself, on “Cheers,” “According to Jim,” “L.A. Law,” “Saturday Night Live” and “3rd Rock from the Sun.” He co-starred with Will Ferrell in the movie “Kicking & Screaming,” playing a youth soccer coach.
Ditka also appeared in commercials, ran Mike Ditka restaurants and sold cigars, sausages and wine under his name.
He supported Gridiron Greats, which raises money for retired players who need financial or medical help. He also backed Misericordia Heart of Mercy in Chicago, Maryville Academy in Des Plaines and Little City in Palatine.
