Steelers legend Mike Wagner, Lake Villa native and Carmel grad, passes away at 76
NFL legends sometimes have unlikely origin stories.
Mike Wagner, a four-time Super Bowl champ with the Pittsburgh Steelers, certainly qualifies.
The Lake Villa native, part of the second graduating class at Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein in 1967, died Wednesday after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 76.
Undersized at the time he graduated from Carmel, he wasn't recruited by any colleges. He went to Western Illinois with plans to major in business and, after walking past football practice a few dozen times, asked to walk-on and joined the freshman squad.
Four years later, he was an 11th-round draft pick of the Steelers and ended up a key member of the famed “Steel Curtain” defense in the 1970s.
During his playing days, Wagner was often in the middle of the action in the NFL's biggest games. He led the league with 8 interceptions in 1973. He had 4 playoff interceptions, including two against the Raiders in the 1975 AFC Championship Game. He picked off Dallas' Roger Staubach two weeks later in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl X.
Wagner reminisced with the Daily Herald in 2020 about his playing career. He told this story about his view of the “Immaculate Reception” against the Raiders in the 1972 playoffs:
“I was sitting on the sideline with one of my teammates, we were sitting on our helmets and were actually starting to untape,” Wagner said. “All of the sudden this play develops and Franco Harris catches the ball and goes running by us into the end zone. We were all like stunned. Then everybody just gets up and runs into the end zone, we're jumping up and down. It took about another half-hour for the referees to figure out whether or not the touchdown was going to count or not.
“They finally got everybody off the field and there's still time on the clock. I'm looking for my helmet. I had been sitting on it, but when I ran down to the end zone to celebrate, I didn't bring my helmet with me and no one knew where it was. The defense had to go in there for the final play and I grabbed one from a second-string lineman or somebody. So I'm out there with this helmet that doesn't fit me, the thing was rattling around. The ball was thrown in my direction. Fortunately my teammate Mel Blount grabbed the receiver and slammed him to the ground and that was the end of the game.”
Wagner's first NFL game was against the Bears at Soldier Field in the 1971 season opener. He earned four Super Bowl rings, but missed Super Bowl XIV against the Rams with an injury. After retiring as a player in 1980, he went into business, coached high school football off and on, and continued to live in the Pittsburgh area.
“Mike was our quarterback in the secondary,” Blount told steelers.com. “I don't know if the fans or the general public really knew what an intricate part of that defense he was. He directed what we were doing back in the secondary, and at the same time made plays himself. He did his job and made sure we were doing ours.”
Wagner returned to Carmel many times over the years. Former Corsairs head coach Andy Bitto recalled Wagner speaking to one of his teams, and heard from him after winning the state championship in 2003. Wagner donated a Steelers jersey, which was displayed in the school's trophy case.