Michael Ballew was an American actor, stuntman and transportation coordinator. He began playing football as a high school freshman after his family moved to Leavenworth, Washington, and he received a partial football scholarship to Shoreline Community College in Seattle. After junior college, he transferred to the University of Washington to study sociology. After college, he played as a defensive end for the Hagerstown Bears, a minor league team in Maryland, for two seasons. He was signed to the Chicago Bears in 1973, and played half a season with the team before being cut. He moved to Newport Beach and was signed to the Southern California Sun of the now-defunct World Football League in 1974. His football career ended in 1976, when the Los Angeles Rams cut him during training camp. Southern California Sun coach Tom Fears, who worked as a technical adviser on football movies, gave Ballew his first break in the movie industry. He also found work through his friend Lorenzo Lamas, and was manager of his GTO class automobile racing team until 1989. He died on October 22, 2023 after a battle with progressive supranuclear palsy.
