Mike Ditka: Difference between revisions

He is known by the nickname "'''Iron Mike'''", which he has said comes from his being born and raised in a [[steel]] town in Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Getting Down and Dirty with 'Da Coach'|magazine=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]]|issue=75|publisher=Ziff Davis|date=October 1995|pages=114–116}}</ref>

 

Ditka was born as Michael Dyczko in the [[Pittsburgh]]-area town of [[Carnegie, Pennsylvania]] on October 18, 1939. The oldest child of Charlotte (Keller) and Mike Ditka Sr.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://old.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19981115ditka9.asp|title=Obituary: Mike Ditka: Aliquippa resident, father of Saints coach|publisher=Old.post-gazette.com|access-date=January 16, 2015}}</ref> he grew up in nearby [[Aliquippa, Pennsylvania|Aliquippa]]{{r|price20110131}} with siblings Ashton, David, and Mary Ann. His father, a welder, was one of three brothers of a Polish<ref name=roots>{{cite web|url=http://abc7chicago.com/archive/9281089/ |title=Ditka putting name on Polish sausage |publisher=ABC 7 Chicago|access-date=October 9, 2013}}</ref> and [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]]<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagobears.com/tradition/hof-ditka.asp |title=Mike Ditka page on |publisher=Chicagobears.com |access-date=September 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071220123238/http://www.chicagobears.com/tradition/hof-ditka.asp |archive-date=December 20, 2007 |url-status=dead }} Quote from article: "Mike's childhood name was Mike Dyzcko. His father was one of three brothers of a Ukrainian family in the coal-mining and steel-manufacturing area in Western Pennsylvania"</ref> family in the coal-mining and steel-manufacturing area in Western Pennsylvania. His ancestry on his mother's side is Irish and German.<ref name="bookref1">{{cite book|last1=Othello Harris|first1=George Kirsch|last2=Claire Nolte|title=Encyclopedia of Ethnicity and Sports in the United States|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2000|location=Westport, Connecticut|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofet0000unse_u6f6/page/132 132]|isbn=0-313-29911-0|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofet0000unse_u6f6/page/132}}</ref> The Ukrainian surname "Dyczko" was difficult to pronounce in his hometown, so the family name was changed to "Ditka".<ref name="autogenerated1" /> Ditka attended St. Titus School.