Did Steve McMichael understand Saturday that he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
Was he aware what was happening when Hall of Fame President Jim Porter presented him with a gold jacket and when former teammate Richard Dent unveiled his bust?
Those friends and former teammates around his bed at his Homer Glen home were convinced he knew.
McMichael has ALS and it has ravaged his body. But his mind took it all in.
“You could see it in his eyes more than anything,” Dent said. “And we could feel it in our hearts.
“He’s aware of everything,” another former teammate, Jimbo Covert, said. “There’s nothing wrong with upstairs.”
McMichael’s wife, Misty, who has been with Steve throughout his ordeal with the disease, confirmed the man known as Mongo may look frail, but he knew what was happening.
“His mind is still there,” she said. “His mind is fine and that’s why I’m glad he is able to understand what is going on. His body is failing him. That’s ALS. His body is going to give out eventually.
“He knows he’s in (the hall of fame) and that’s all that matters. He’s in football heaven, the way it should be.”
Because of his illness, McMichael could not attend the ceremonies in Canton, Ohio. But hundreds of people gathered outside of his house and the Bagpipes and Drums of the Emerald Society of the Chicago Police Department performed on his front lawn as he listened through an open window.
After the pipers piped, fans were allowed on the lawn and chanted “Mongo team” and “Hall of Fame” and sang the Chicago Bears fight song.
Beverly native and Marist graduate Jim O’Hara, who said he sold hot dogs at Bears games in the 1970s, came in from Naperville to pay honor to McMichael.
“I always liked Mongo,” he said. “He was always entrenched on the line and they just kept knocking the crap out of everyone.
“Anytime I did see him, he always had a smile on his face, but he always wanted to rip apart his opponents.”
Homer Glen’s Tami O’Brien was glad she could be a part of the celebration.
“I was hoping he would see this day,” she said. “Steve was awesome and amazing. We were fans of the ‘85 Bears and that’s the year my daughter (Kristin) was born. We went to the championship before they went to the Super Bowl and it was a big thing.”
Gary and Sue Gow, of Homer Glen, were also happy to witness a part of history.
“I was pleased to be able to see this and that he could experience this,” Gary said. “It’s amazing.”
“His wife, bless her heart, is a big supporter and is strong and helped him make it this far,” Sue added.
It was announced McMichael made the Hall of Fame in early February after a campaign that included support from his hometown.
It was anyone’s guess if he was going to live to see the day he would be inducted. A week after the announcement, he was admitted to a hospital’s intensive care unit Feb. 15 for a staph infection.
There was a second trip to the hospital in April for a urinary tract infection.
Since then, he has stayed away from hospitals and it has been a race against time with plenty of hope and prayers from friends, family members and fans.
“He’s a fighter and he’s a scrapper,” former teammate Ron Rivera said. “That’s who he is.”
“For what he’s been able to fight through and for the difficulties of the disease that we all know about, I think that it’s a special moment in time that everybody will remember,” said former teammate Tom Thayer, the Bears radio analyst.
McMichael played 13 seasons with the Bears and played in 191 consecutive games, racking up 92 ½ sacks.
He also played his rookie year in 1980 for New England at age 23 and his final NFL year in 1994 with heated rival Green Bay at age 37.
After retiring from football, he stayed in the public eye as a coach for the Chicago Slaughter in the American Football League and Indoor Football League and as a pro wrestler in the World Championship Wrestling organization. He was a part of the infamous Four Horsemen.
Thayer believes McMichael earned this hall honor.
“This is certainly not a pity selection, it’s a deserving selection,” Thayer said. “He’s got all of the credibility and all the accomplishments of any NFL player. He deserves to have his bust unveiled.”
McMichael’s sister, Kathy McMichael said Steve was smiling when he heard the bagpipes and the fans’ reaction outside the house.
“If you know him, you know if he could be out here, he would be asking when the party is starting,” she told the crowd.
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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