CHICAGO (Diya TV) — Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame tight end who coached the Chicago Bears to their only Super Bowl championship, has died at eighty-six, his family announced Friday. The family did not disclose a cause of death.
Ditka led Chicago’s championship team during the 1985 season. The Bears lost only one regular-season game before defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX.
His family remembered him as a devoted husband, father, grandfather and friend.
“While the world knew Mike as a Hall of Fame football player, legendary coach, and leader of the Chicago Bears’ Super Bowl XX championship team, we knew him as the heart of our family,” the statement said.
Ditka joined the Bears as a first-round draft pick in 1961 and earned NFL Rookie of the Year honors. That season, he became the first NFL tight end to surpass a thousand receiving yards.
He helped Chicago win the 1963 NFL championship, then played for the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. With Dallas, he won Super Bowl VI as a player and later Super Bowl XII as an assistant coach under Tom Landry.
Bears founder George Halas hired Ditka as head coach in 1982. He coached Chicago through the 1992 season and twice earned NFL Coach of the Year honors. He later coached the New Orleans Saints from 1997 to 1999.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame inducted Ditka in 1988, making him the first tight end enshrined.
Born in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, Ditka grew up in nearby Aliquippa and played college football at the University of Pittsburgh.
After coaching, he worked as a television analyst and advocated for financial and medical assistance for retired players through the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund.
