Mike Ditka, legendary NFL player and coach, dies at 86

(NBC, KYMA) - Legendary football player and coach Mike Ditka has died.

He was called "Iron Mike," a nickname forged from his Pennsylvania steel-town roots and his punishing nature on the football field, both as a player and Super Bowl-winning coach.

Ditka scored big for decades in pro football, first as a bruising tight end for the Chicago Bears in the 1960s, and later the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, before his turn as a successful coach, with his big break coming in 1982 with his old team, the Bears.

It didn't take long for Ditka's players to adopt his personality: Bold and brash. Above all though, the team developed into a consistent winner for the first time in decades.

Ditka's 1985 team is considered by many football fans as the most dominant ever, losing just once during the season, and plowing through the opposition to win the Super Bowl, with multiple future Hall of Famers.

Ditka himself was enshrined into the Hall of Fame a few years later in 1988, the same year he suffered a heart attack.

Ditka's firing in January 1993 was not lost on a group of his biggest fans on Saturday Night Live.

Ditka then launched a career as a broadcaster, with NBC and others, and a group of restaurants bears his name.

Away from the sport, Ditka did not shy away from expressing his conservative political views.

He reportedly considered running against Illinois Democratic State Sen. Barack Obama for an open U.S. Senate seat in 2004.

He was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and took public exception to the national anthem kneeling controversy.

A man from western PA, tough as nails in one of the toughest games on the planet, won over a city for putting the "claws" back into its football team.

Ditka's family released a statement Friday confirming his death, writing in part, "It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend, Mike Ditka. While the world knew Mike as a Hall of Fame football player, legendary coach, and leader of the Chicago Bears' Super Bowl XX championship team, we knew him as the heart of our family. Mike will be missed beyond measure and remembered forever."

Dikta was 86-years-old.