The wife of late Chicago Bears Hall of Famer Steve McMichael is speaking out after her husband’s post mortem CTE diagnosis.
“Too many NFL players are developing ALS during life and diagnosed with CTE after death,” Steve’s wife, Misty McMichael, said in a statement released by the Concussion & CTE Foundation on Tuesday, April 7. “I donated Steve’s brain to inspire new research into the link between them.”
Steve died in April 2025 at age 67 after a five-year battle with ALS. Before his death, he asked for his brain to be studied. He also followed research for a link between ALS and CTE, according to Chris Nowinski, co-founder and CEO of the foundation.
CTE, which can only be diagnosed after death, is a degenerative brain disease common among former football players and athletes in sports where head trauma is prevalent. Its symptoms include mood swings, depression and impulsive behavior.
“Steve McMichael was known for his strength, toughness, and larger-than-life presence, but his final act was to give a piece of himself back to the sports community so that we might have a chance to save ourselves,” Nowinski said. “I appreciate all the former athletes, including many of Steve’s ’85 Bears teammates, who are raising funds and volunteering to participate in CTE research so we can create a brighter future for athletes everywhere.”
More than a decade of research has suggested a possible link between CTE and ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Additionally, football players are more than four times more likely to develop ALS than non-football players, according to a 2021 study by the Harvard Medical School and the Boston University CTE Center.’
Steve was diagnosed with ALS in 2021, three years before he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was unable to attend the ceremony in 2024, rendered bedridden without the ability to speak. In lieu of an in-person speech, a prerecorded video was played instead, showing him lying on his bed in his Hall of Fame gold jacket. Steve was surrounded by family and former teammates as his sister, Kathy, delivered his enshrinement speech.
ESPN’s Chris Berman, emcee of the enshrinement ceremony, also delivered a message from Steve to the crowd.
“I do not want ALS to be my legacy,” the message said. “What I did on the field, that’s my legacy. Pushing myself to the limit … farther than anybody else could.”
“It’s a cruel irony that the Bears’ Ironman succumbed to this dreaded disease,” Bears chairman George H. McCaskey said in a statement after Steve’s death. “Yet Steve showed us throughout his struggle that his real strength was internal, and he demonstrated on a daily basis his class, his dignity and his humanity. He is at peace now. We offer our condolences to Misty, Macy, the rest of Steve’s family, his teammates, and countless friends and fans of a great Bear.”
