MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
He was a Hall of Fame football player and a legendary coach known for his energy on the sidelines and in postgame interviews, like this one with CBS Sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MIKE DITKA: Man, this is what it's all about. I mean, people are getting snot knocked out of them out here. That's is a good football game, boy. I mean, I don't care what the score was. They beat us? It was still a good football game. The people were hitting each other. That's what this is all about.
KELLY: Mike Ditka - he led the Chicago Bears to the team's only Super Bowl win in 1986. He died today. He was 86 years old. Patrick Finley, sports reporter with the Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Public Media, joins me to remember the man known as Iron Mike and coach of da Bears. Hi, Patrick.
PATRICK FINLEY, BYLINE: Da Bears. Very good. Very good.
KELLY: One of the great SNL skits ever. OK, I'm going to get people riled up at the very start by asking this. I mean, we mentioned Mike Ditka. He was a coach. He was also a great player in the NFL. Was he a better coach or a better player?
FINLEY: Might have been a better player - he's one of the great players in the history of the sport. He last played a game for the Bears in 1966, and he still has more receiving yards than any tight end they've ever had. He was the first tight end ever inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So he was a star long before he was a coach. But then when he became the coach of the Bears, they won the Super Bowl at the end of the 1985 season. That's the only time in modern history the Bears have won a championship. They haven't been able to come close since Ditka coached the Bears for 11 seasons and won six playoff games. In all the years since, the Bears have won five.
KELLY: Wow. You're there. You're with the Bears practice facility. What's the mood?
FINLEY: Somber - people weren't particularly surprised. Ditka moved back to Chicago from Naples, Florida, two years ago and had been in ill health. But, you know, the flags at Halas Hall here are at half staff. Ben Johnson, who some in Chicago thinks could be the next Mike Ditka, the current Bears coach, said that he was the gold standard in Bears history. And he's saying it against the backdrop of this being a very important week up here because the Bears are going to play the hated Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Lambeau Field. And I'm thinking Mike Ditka's name may come up during the pregame speech.
KELLY: I have the feeling that is a decent bet. Talk about his relationship with Chicago. Chicago fell in love with Mike Ditka.
FINLEY: Yeah. He looked like us. He sounded like us. He cursed and smoked cigars, and he didn't tolerate fools. It was a very Chicago thing. You know, the Bears have been around since 1920, and he's the most successful modern coach that they've ever had. And he was something that Chicagoans could rally behind. You know, the Cubs and the White Sox, you root for them, depending on what part of Chicago you live in. Hockey isn't universal in Chicago, and, you know, we have the Black Hawks. Then you have the Bulls, who are a good 50 years younger than the Bears franchise is. So the Bears are kind of that (inaudible) that everybody here can agree on. And at least in that magical season in 1985, they all agreed on Mike Ditka.
KELLY: We've got about 30 seconds left, but we were, you know, referencing the SNL sketch, da Bears. He had this whole big life off the field, too.
FINLEY: He did. Most of the Bears players I talk to today know him as a celebrity, not as a coach. He was in the Will Ferrell movie "Kicking & Screaming" - I don't know whether you've seen. That one showed up on a bunch of TV shows. The "Superfans" thing is still, I think, what most of pop culture knows him on or knows him for more so than his appearances on ESPN or at politics. I tell you this. You can go to my grocery store and buy Ditka brand ribs and Italian beef at the Jewel.
KELLY: Patrick Finley remembering Mike Ditka. Patrick with the Chicago Sun Times. It's NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
