With remembrances and tributes pouring in following the death last week of Mike Ditka, some may remember that the legendary player and coach was a neighbor.
He made Lake County his home before and after he took the Chicago Bears to the New Orleans Superdome on Jan. 26, 1986, for a blowout victory, 46-10, over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX.
Ditka died Oct. 9 in Chicago and homages to his coaching and playing days have flowed. Even the Green Bay Packers, a team he despised, toasted his accomplishments in the National Football League before they pummeled the Bears on Sunday at Lambeau Field, 31-7. Ouch.
Many recall Ditka’s coaching drive, but as a player he was Rookie of the Year in 1961 and named to five straight Pro Bowls. He was the first tight end to be inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. He also was one of two people, the other Tom Flores of the Oakland Raiders, to win a Super Bowl as a player, an assistant coach, and a head coach.
Ditka remains the only person to participate in both of the Bears’ NFL championships. He was a player in the 1963 NFL championship game — prior to the establishment of Super Bowls — when the Bears, led by Head Coach George Halas, defeated the New York Giants by a score of 14-10 on a frigid Dec. 29 at Wrigley Field. Of course, he was head coach in the Super Bowl XX season of 1985-86.
Like many Bears’ players and coaches past and present, Ditka lived in Lake County, commuting to Bears offices then located on the grounds of Lake Forest College. This was years before the team moved its headquarters and training facilities to the Conway Farm area of Lake Forest.
Current Head Coach Ben Johnson resides in Lake Forest, as did one of his predecessors, Lovie Smith. Sometimes, the Bears aren’t warmly welcomed by their neighbors.
A Mundelein acquaintance lived down the street from Anthony Thomas, a running back who played for the Bears from 2001 to 2004. This person happened to be a Packers stalwart who still doesn’t take too kindly to Bears fans and players.
He had a flagpole installed in his front yard and would fly a Green Bay banner daily during football season so Thomas would see it every day he left for practice or on game day. After Thomas left for the Dallas Cowboys, the flag was only flying on Packers’ game days.
It surely wasn’t that way for the Ditka family. You bring a Super Bowl championship home and the word “legend” sticks with you. Players of the 1985-86 team remain revered figures in Chicagoland.
The coach and wife Diana lived in Arbor Vista, an upscale single-family subdivision just inside the western Warren Township line along Route 45, between Libertyville and Grayslake. His son, Matt, attended Warren Township High School, playing for the Blue Devils football squad, and graduating in 1986.
A golfer, which many athletes drift toward during and after their playing days, Ditka was a member of the prestigious Bob O’Link Golf Club in Highland Park during his tenure as Bears coach and after he was unceremoniously fired by then-Bears President Michael McCaskey on Jan. 5, 1993.
Ditka continued to live in the county during his days as a football analyst for NBC before he joined the New Orleans Saints as head coach. He moved to Naples, Florida, on the Gulf Coast in later years, but returned to Chicago full-time in 2024, where he had earned success on the football field and in business.
His restaurant, Ditka’s, was a fixture in the city’s Gold Coast neighborhood until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced its closure after operating for 20 years and attracting thousands of fans. During its heyday, Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse on Kinzie Street had a notation on its menu: “Pork Chops: Go to Ditka’s.”
Two other restaurants with his imprint, Ditka’s in Oakbrook Terrace and Grill 89 (his tight end number, which was retired by the Bears in 2013 during a Monday Night Football game at Soldier Field) in Westmont, continue to operate.
As a good neighbor, Ditka was also a backer of area charities, most notably and avidly Misericordia, the Chicago-based facility for children and adults with developmental disabilities. He never missed a chance to plug it.
Ditka’s death is the second in a month in the Bears family. Matt Suhey, the fullback who blocked for Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton during the Ditka era, died last month in his Deerfield home at age 68.
Age is catching up with the heroes of Super Bowl XX, many of whom have been our neighbors.
More Top Picks Best Double Electric Breast Pumps For Working Moms
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor, and editor. [email protected]. X @sellenews