He once was lost but now is found

L.A. Mike wants ex-mates to know he's still shufflin'

He called Richard Dent to tell him. He called Dave Duerson, too. And Shaun Gayle, Emery Moorehead and Leslie Frazier.

''I've reached out to quite a few of them in the last year,'' Mike Richardson said. ''I wanted to let them know:

''I'm still breathing.''

He's L.A. Mike and he plays it cool. Remember from the ''Super Bowl Shuffle''? ''They don't sneak by me 'cause I'm no fool.''

Yes, that Mike Richardson, starting cornerback on the '85 Bears. You had forgotten him, hadn't you?

The 1985 Bears have been around ever since, part of our lives on radio and TV, in celebrity golf tournaments, pro wrestling, coaching and commercials. With the Bears back in the Super Bowl for the first time since then, facing the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, they are even more present.

But L.A. Mike? He's the lost Bear.

Lost to the fans, but lost to the Bears, too.

''Yeah, I'm OK, ha-ha-ha,'' he said. ''I kind of separated for a while.

''I didn't get involved in reunions and things. I don't know if the invitations got mixed up in the mail or what. No, really, I don't know if the Bears had my address.''

No one did. Richardson has been in Southern California, and his story hasn't been the same as those of most of the '85 Bears.

He hasn't been loved and cherished by Chicago, given every last opportunity. Oh, it was probably there for him. But Richardson took a fall, a self-inflicted fall that saw him arrested on a drug charge, then apparently estranged from his family.

On Wednesday, Richardson was chatty and happy, making jokes about the ''Super Bowl Shuffle.''

''The singing was OK, as long as people don't remind us about the dancing,'' he said. ''We had 10 guys, and only one could dance, the Refrigerator.''

He sounded humble, clear-headed and ready to move forward.

''When you stop playing, you come down a little bit because you were at your peak,'' he said. ''Sometimes you fall a little farther than you'd like to. But I have satisfaction where I am now.

''Sometimes when you're going through your own personal struggles, you don't want to be involved with other people. You kind of distance yourself. I'm a born-again Christian now. When you do that, your life changes drastically.''

He lives in Anaheim, has a 7-year-old son, Broderick, and an 8-year-old daughter, Reili.

He has been selling cars at a Toyota dealership. And he recently called Fullerton College football coach Gene Murphy and asked for a meeting. Murphy ended up giving Richardson a part-time job coaching defensive backs.

I've tried to find him before, usually during reunions. The Bears didn't know where he was. Several ex-teammates didn't know, and some said they didn't care.

In 1995, for the 10-year anniversary, the Sun-Times wrote about what all those Bears were doing. By Richardson's name, it said, ''Whereabouts unknown.''

We never will know all that happened over so many years. But it apparently included an arrest for a drug-related felony that was knocked down to a misdemeanor.

As a player, Richardson had been known for his time in the nightlife. According to a Sun-Times story at the 10-year anniversary, former defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan called him L.A. Mike ''because Mike never played well in games after spending any time with his friends in Los Angeles.''

From the same story, Richardson's mother, Bobbie, who since has died, said she had limited contact with her son.

''I do know I am very disappointed with Mike, and he knows it, too,'' she said. ''His father died five years ago this week, and Mike took it very hard. In some respects, he hasn't been the same since then.''

Richardson said his mother's death, in part, is what turned him toward God.

''I saw how much peace she had,'' he said. ''Sometimes when you lose that focus and peace, you search different areas. I happened to find it in Christianity.''

Richardson still has his Super Bowl ring, but he doesn't wear it.

''I keep it close,'' he said.

He has been watching the Bears, pulling for them. He predicts a close victory Sunday.

He said he watched the NFC Championship Game. When it was over, they played the ''Shuffle'' on TV, and ''I kind of smiled just to hear it again.''

It reminded him of the old days, particularly the postgame flights home. He said they were always fun, always (except once) after victories, always about camaraderie and togetherness.

He was out of the league by 1989, and Richardson, now 45, didn't look for that togetherness again for years.

Now he's ready to let people know he's still breathing. He talked about spending time with his kids, who are ''just getting to the age where they can boss me around.'' And he said he's looking forward to coaching for the first time.

Murphy said the job is low-paying, ''but he's already recruiting. He said he's going to a Super Bowl party, and there are going to be about 20 high school players there.

''I told him, 'Great. You'd better get out that Super Bowl ring.'''

In the same week that '85 Bear Mike Singletary interviewed for the Dallas Cowboys' head-coaching job, Richardson excitedly began recruiting for his new part-time gig at a junior college.

It's not the success story it could have been. But maybe the lost Bear has been found.

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