A week after being formally announced as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024, Chicago Bears great Steve McMichael has been taken to the emergency room of a suburban hospital with what is suspected to be pneumonia, according to his longtime publicist, Betsy Shepherd.
McMichael, 66, has been battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for more than three years and has lost his ability to move or speak.
He was hospitalized last summer with sepsis and pneumonia before recovering. His fight, family and friends have said, was enlivened by the prospect of making the Hall of Fame.
That dream became a reality when it was announced at last week’s NFL Honors event that the Hall of Fame’s selection committee had approved McMichael for induction after the Hall’s seniors committee had recommended him in August.
The induction ceremony is scheduled for Aug. 3 in Canton, Ohio.
McMichael played in 191 regular-season and 12 playoff games — all consecutively — during his 13 seasons with the Bears. He was a disruptive force on the interior of the defensive line throughout the 1980s, flanked by Hall of Fame defensive ends Dan Hampton and Richard Dent during the team’s 1985 run to the Super Bowl XX title.
Ranking the 100 best Bears players ever: No. 18, Steve McMichael