Today, it was announced that Mike Ditka, the first tight end inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the head coach who led the Chicago Bears to their only Super Bowl title, has passed away. Many recognized Ditka as a cigar enthusiast, and he also partnered with Camacho to produce a line of cigars from 2013 to 2016.
The Chicago Bears drafted Ditka in 1961. He spent six seasons as a tight end with the Bears, including being part of the 1963 NFL Championship team. From 1967-68, he played for the Philadelphia Eagles, and then played four more seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He then spent nine more seasons with the Cowboys as an Assistant Coach before Bears’ founder George S Halas brought him back to Chicago to take over as Head Coach. His tenure in Chicago culminated in a Super Bowl XX victory in the 1985-86 season. After the Bears fired him in 1992, he was out of coaching for four years. In 1997, the New Orleans Saints hired him as head coach, where he served for three seasons.
Ditka was well known for his love of cigars and partnered with Graycliff, a Bahamian cigar maker, to produce cigars bearing his name. Those cigars were sold at his Chicago restaurant.
At the 2012 International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Trade Show, it was announced by Davidoff that it had entered into a new partnership with Ditka for a line of cigars under Camacho. This was part of a larger effort by Davidoff to rebrand Camacho, which it acquired from the Eiroas a few years earlier. Mike Ditka, together with Matt Booth of Room101 and screenwriter Rob Weiss, established Camacho’s “Board of the Bold.” Ditka served as the face of the Ditka cigar line, which included both core and limited edition offerings. However, when Ditka’s contract with Davidoff ended, the Ditka cigar line ended as well.
Ditka was selected to be a keynote speaker at the 2013 IPCPR Trade Show Convention. At that trade show, I had a chance to talk to Ditka, who told me, “I don’t care what anyone says, I like big ring gauge cigars.”
Ditka was 86 years old. No cause of death was given.
