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Lou Michaels, the rough and rugged lineman who went from Swoyersville to NFL stardom while becoming the first Wyoming Valley native to play in a Super Bowl, died Tuesday morning following a nearly four-month struggle with pancreatic cancer.
He was 80.
“He fought a courageous battle,” said his son Ed Michaels, a former Wyoming Valley West player and head coach who is currently an assistant coach at Coughlin High School. “On Sept. 25, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Today, he succumbed to it. He’s not suffering any more. We’re hoping he’s in a better place. It was his time.
“But he fought like a son of a gun.”
Those who knew Lou Michaels would expect nothing less.
The Swoyersville native built a local legend as a hard-nosed lineman for the old Swoyersville High School in the 1950s, then became an All-America defensive lineman at the University of Kentucky who was so dominant, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1992 and selected to the SEC’s 50th anniversary team in 1982.
A first-round pick by the Los Angeles Rams and the fourth overall selection in the 1958 NFL Draft, Michaels went on to a 14-year NFL career as a defensive end and kicker for the Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Colts and Green Bay Packers.
He was a two-time Pro Bowl selection who made history by coming from the Wyoming Valley to play in Super Bowl III, where his powerful Colts team was upset by a New York Jets team that employed his brother, Walt Michaels, as an assistant coach.
The loss haunted Lou Michaels forever, and he once insisted he wished he’d never been there that day, saying when you lose a Super Bowl, it stays with you.
But the things Lou Michaels leaves behind won’t be forgotten by those around him.
Family members talk of a caring, gracious and generous man who regularly raised funds for the Make-A-Wish foundation through his annual golf tournament and carried an unbridled affection for children.
“Very family-oriented, very religious — he went to church every day,” said his daughter-in-law, Tina Michaels, Ed’s wife. “He loved to be around his family. We have a special-needs child (Caitlin), she has autism. He always prayed for her.”
That human side of Lou Michaels earned the honor of his family much more than his football legend. Those are the memories his relatives say made Michaels a champion in their hearts.
“Just being my dad,” Ed Michaels said. “Whether we were sitting and watching a game together, listening to him about football, or whether we would go to the track together once a year or up to Mohegan Sun to play the ponies once a week, he was a hell of a father.”
Not a bad football, player, either.
Lou Michaels recorded six fumble recoveries, four interceptions including one he returned for a touchdown and tackled an opposing quarterback in the end zone for a safety in an era when sacks were not kept as an official statistic. He also converted 45 of his 63 career field goal attempts through an NFL career that began in 1958 and ended in 1971, and was good on 386 of his 402 extra point attempts for total of 955 total points scored as a kicker.
“He taught me everything,” Ed Michaels said. “There is nobody that I know who knows more about football than Lou Michaels.”
Those around Lou Michaels knew not to bring up his only Super Bowl appearance in 1969.
A fierce competitor, Michaels despised being associated with a Super Bowl defeat that is still viewed as one of the NFL’s greatest upsets and gave the AFC it’s first league champion in the Jets.
“Oh man, that’s a silent subject in the Michaels’ household, a quiet one,” Ed Michaels said. “It wasn’t meant to be for the 1969 Baltimore Colts.”
Lou Michaels didn’t let the loss define him, though. He played one more full season in the NFL with the 1971 Green Bay Packers, then retired to his native Swoyersville to continue a life of kindness and charity that lasted to the day he died.
“They tell you in Pittsburgh and in Baltimore, he was always the last one out of the locker room,” Ed Michaels said. “Because he would sign autographs for everybody. He loved kids, and he knew what it meant to be a professional.”
