The coach is back!
Legendary Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, the tough nut football legend who survived a stroke, heart attack, and subsequent convalescence in Florida for the past few years, is back home.
And the legendary coach has got plenty to say.
“I’m finally home! This city is my home. I love it,” bellowed the coach in an exclusive interview with Sneed Monday after quietly slipping into town “a few days ago.”
“I was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Pittsburgh, but Chicago is my home … and it is my life,” he said.
“It’s the people I miss … miss more than anything,” he added.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally be home…to be back, although it was mighty cold when we got off the private plane at Midway airport a few nights ago,” chuckled Ditka. “It’s the people I miss … miss more than anything.”
The indomitable coach and his wife, Diana, not only quietly slipped into town without fanfare, but reclaimed old geography, a new condo apartment in the same Gold Coast building where the couple had lived for years.
Cancel da Pork Chop!
The new Ditka digs also are within walking distance of the couple’s beloved and now gone Ditka’s eatery, where the Ditkas held court daily in a booth surrounded by pals and delighted fans before their namesake grub hub, which closed in 2020 after a 24-year run in the Tremont Hotel complex at 100 E. Chestnut St.
“Look,” said Ditka to Sneed back then: “This (COVID-19) virus thing is historic. But when all is said and done, it was a great run, but things wear after a time. It’s over and it was good,” he added. “No complaints.”
Not long afterward, the couple pulled up stakes, sold their apartment and moved permanently to Florida.
And the flood of Ditka news seemed to run cold.
But when Sneed contacted Diana Ditka on Oct. 18 to wish her hubby a happy 85th birthday, she signaled her cigar-chomping handful of a hubby, hubby had finally stopped smoking.
“Heck, we are still together,” she joked.
Then she issued this kicker before abruptly ringing off: “Yes. We really miss Chicago. BUT we actually should have some news for you soon. But NOT right now. Bye.”
She then abruptly rung off!
Holy Porkchop!
Was da Great Grabowski’s health in a downspin? Was he in hospice? What did Diana mean?
Now we know.
Da Ditkas are back, the coach’s health has been tough and at times cause for serious concern. But he is still in the game of life while tackling health issues.
“But my husband is NOT in hospice,” said Diana, although caretakers are in attendance.
Diana also frequently finishes Mike’s sentences when his memory stumbles.
“Most of our furniture has yet to arrive, but we are just so happy to be home,” she said. “Thank goodness we have the TV and back in the warmth of a city we call home.”
Meanwhile, the incomparable coach is minus his iconic eatery’s legendary pork chop.
But Sneed has it on good authority that a delish delivery was being dispatched to the Ditka digs Monday from Freddy’s, one of the coach’s favorite eats: Chicken Limone.
So, chomp away coach … even if it’s pasta!
The City of Big Shoulders is just glad you are back home.