Mike Ditka Hospitalized After Suffering Mild Stroke

Mike Ditka suffered a minor stroke on Friday and was taken to the hospital, but doctors said he will be all right.

As NFL.com reports, the stroke Mike Ditka suffered was considered “very minor” and the legendary Chicago Bears coach was alert and responsive. Ditka had been playing cards with friends when he said his hands felt strange and he had trouble speaking.

Mike Ditka noted that he isn’t feeling any more effects of the minor stroke.

“I feel good right now and it’s not a big deal,” Ditka told Dan Pompei of the Chicago Tribune and National Football Post.

The 73-year-old Ditka has avoided major health concerns in recent years, though he did suffer a heart attack in 1988 when he was coaching the Bears. At the time doctors warned Ditka to get rest, but the coach was back in the office after eight days and on the sidelines coaching 11 days later.

For Mike Ditka, the heart attack was more embarrassing that frightening.

“I don’t know what I experienced,” he said at the time. “I think I almost experienced embarrassment. It kind of was embarrassing that it happened to me. I mean, how could this ever happen to me? That’s the way I felt in the beginning, and then it didn’t matter. I mean it was so bad at a certain point that I knew that we’re just mortals. I mean, we’re here for a while and then we’re gone. It can happen to anybody at any time. It was a very humbling feeling after that, believe me.”

Mike Ditka’s minor stroke will keep him from his duties this weekend with ESPN, where he is an analyst.