The doorbell rings, and it feels as if the sun has broken through the clouds. On McMichael’s 66th birthday last October, Padrino told him, “Let’s make it one more year.” In his eyes, Padrino saw determination. “It will be one of the most powerful things I will have seen.” During his playing days, McMichael hired Michael Kinyon, a friend of …
HOMER GLEN, Ill. — Outside, birds chirp relentlessly, signaling a brighter, warmer tomorrow. “He’s one of the old-fashioned, blue-collar tough guys, like Randy White, Harry Carson, guys who you knew would give you a full day’s work,” Grimm says. Says McMichael, “I pushed myself to the limit.” Hampton, a brother as much as a teammate, once said this of McMichael, …
Thirty-nine years ago, Bears scout Jim Parmer asked defensive lineman Dan Hampton for a favor. McMichael, on the step below Shearer, looked up at him and said, “I’m taking your job.” Shearer and McMichael ended up playing next to one another and becoming allies. As Hampton patted McMichael on the back, the man he called Ming said, “I knew he’d …
