| Full name | Margery Dougherty Ditka |
|---|---|
| Known as | Marge Ditka |
| Known for | First wife of Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Ditka |
| Married | January 28, 1961 |
| Divorced | September 21, 1973 |
| Children | Michael Ditka III, Mark Ditka, Megan Ditka, Matthew Ditka |
Margery “Marge” Dougherty Ditka is best known as the first wife of Mike Ditka, the Pro Football Hall of Famer who went on to become one of the most recognizable figures in NFL history as both a player and a coach. Marge married Mike on January 28, 1961, and the two remained married for just over twelve years before divorcing on September 21, 1973. Together they had four children. Beyond those confirmed facts, Marge has lived well outside the public spotlight, and reliable sources document very little about her life independent of her marriage.
One important point worth clarifying upfront: Marge Ditka is not the same person as Diana Trantham, whom Mike Ditka married in 1977. Anyone searching for Mike Ditka’s wife may encounter both names. Marge was his first wife; Diana Trantham became his second. The two are entirely different people, and this article is about Marge alone.
Who Is Marge Ditka?
Her full name before marriage was Margery Dougherty. She became Margery Ditka upon marrying Mike Ditka in early 1961, and she has been referred to publicly as both Marge Dougherty and Marge Ditka over the years. CNN’s biographical record of Mike Ditka identifies her as his first wife and places the marriage firmly in the early period of his professional football career.
MyHeritage records also list her as Margery Ditka, corroborating the January 28, 1961 marriage date. Beyond her name and her connection to Mike Ditka, reliable public sources do not offer details about her background, birthdate, or upbringing.
Her Marriage to Mike Ditka
Marge and Mike Ditka married on January 28, 1961. At that point, Mike was just beginning to make his mark in professional football. He had been drafted by the Chicago Bears in 1961 and would go on to earn Pro Bowl selections and establish himself as one of the premier tight ends of his era. The early years of their marriage coincided directly with his rise as a player.
The marriage lasted just over twelve years. CNN’s biographical profile of Mike Ditka records the divorce date as September 21, 1973. No reliable public source details the circumstances surrounding the end of the marriage, and this article does not speculate about them.
After the divorce, Mike Ditka married Diana Trantham in 1977. Marge’s own life following the 1973 divorce is not covered in any authoritative public source.
Marge and Mike Ditka’s Four Children
The most substantive confirmed detail tied to Marge Ditka is that she is the mother of Mike Ditka’s four children. CNN’s biographical profile names all four: Michael Ditka III, Mark Ditka, Megan Ditka, and Matthew Ditka. All four were born during the marriage.
The four children include three sons — Michael III, Mark, and Matthew — and one daughter, Megan. That breakdown is consistent across multiple sources, including biographical summaries from CNN and corroborating sports coverage. No reliable information is publicly available about the children’s birth years or their individual lives in later years.
Mike Ditka has spoken about his family publicly over the years in various interviews and biographical profiles, but Marge herself has not been a visible presence in those accounts. The children are consistently attributed to his first marriage, and no source reviewed suggests any of the four have children from another relationship.
Marge Ditka’s Connection to a Larger Story
Mike Ditka’s career trajectory gives some context for the timeline of the marriage. He played for the Chicago Bears from 1961 to 1966, then moved to the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys before retiring as a player in 1972 — just one year before the divorce was finalized. His coaching career, which would bring him his greatest public fame, came later. He served as an assistant coach with the Cowboys before becoming head coach of the Chicago Bears in 1982, leading them to a Super Bowl victory after the 1985 season.
All of that professional success came after his marriage to Marge had already ended. Their shared history belongs to an earlier chapter of Mike Ditka’s life, one that is less documented in the public record than his later coaching career.
For readers interested in a fuller picture of Mike Ditka’s life and career, First Business Mag covers biographical profiles of notable figures across sports and business.
Marge Ditka’s Family
Marge’s immediate family, as confirmed by public records, centers on her four children with Mike Ditka: Michael Ditka III, Mark Ditka, Megan Ditka, and Matthew Ditka. These four are the consistent and verified link between Marge and the public record of the Ditka family.
No reliable information is available about Marge’s own parents or siblings, so her broader family background remains undocumented in public sources.
What is clear is that Marge Dougherty entered Mike Ditka’s life at its earliest professional stage, was married to him through the full span of his playing career, and is the mother of all four of his children. That is the factual core of her documented story, and it stands on its own without embellishment.
