John Mackey played RB and WR at Syracuse from 1960-’62.
He rushed for 259 yards on 58 carries, scoring 2 TDs while catching 27 passes for 481 yards and 6 TDs over his college career.
Selected by the Baltimore Colts in the second round of the 1963 NFL Draft.
Made an immediate impact as a TE, catching 35 passes for 726 yards and 7 TDs.
Over the next 7 following seasons- he never failed to reach 400 yards or catch at least 22 passes.
In ’65 he had 30 catches for 814 yards and 7 TDs.
Then in ’66 he caught 50 passes for a career high 829 yards and 9 TDs.
Finally in ’67 Mackey caught a career high 55 passes.
Caught an acrobatic75 yard TD from Johnny Unitas in Super Bowl V over the Dallas Cowboys.
He’d play with the Colts through the 1971 season.
After an acrimonious departure from Baltimore, Mackey played a final season in 1972 with the San Diego Chargers.
A knee injury ended his career- but over that period he played in 139 out of a possible 140 games- a testament to his durability.
ACCOLADES:
Syracuse Orangemen #88 retired
NFL 50th Anniversary All-Time Team
NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team
NFL 1960s All-Decade Team
Pro Bowl 1963, ’65-68
All Pro 1966-1968
Baltimore Ravens Ring of Honor
Pro Football Hall of Fame
100 Greatest Football Players
Nassau County High School Athletic Hall of Fame
NOTES:
John Mackey is considered one of the greatest tight ends of all time and he was the second pure TE inducted into the HoF in 1992. He revolutionized the position with his combination speed and power.
He was also instrumental in unionizing the players into the NFLPA, serving as the group’s first president after the merger, and held that capacity from 1970-’73. (He was blackballed at the end of his career, but squeezed out a final year in San Diego.) Mackey organized the first labor strike, and helped overturn the ‘Rozelle Rule’ (which was in regards to free agency).
Frontotemporal dementia entered his life and it became harder and harder for him to function, and after a few bizarre social episodes, he entered full-time assisted living. Mackey’s wife reached out to Paul Tagliabue, who then worked with then current NFLPA president Gene Upshaw to create a new plan that would help cover the cost of former NFL players struggling with dementia and Alzheimer’s. It was called the ’88 Plan’ in Mackey’s honor.
In a final note, it’s very important with Mackey to make sure that you are getting a certified autograph of his- as there is a bustling market of fake autographs of his circulating in the wild.
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
331
5236
15.8
38
89t
EPITAPH:
7/6/2011- John Mackey passed away at the age of 69. His brain was posthumously donated to science, where it was discovered he suffered from CTE.
Brett has been one of my biggest cheerleaders to make more cards- well specifically of him. I was sorta tuning out of design at the time, I made this one, and I am thankful for people like him encouraging me as I was discouraged in my life, at what I’m good at.
I was inspired by the SP 2001 entry on this one and I think it turned out really nicely. Lots of space for the autograph on a unique horizontal layout.
Case McCoy was offered scholarships by many big name schools to play QB, eventually choosing Texas.
The little brother to Colt McCoy who also played at Texas- he wanted to play here for all the reasons that other players are discouraged from following in the footsteps of their family at the same position.
He saw very little action his freshman year in 2010.
Case competed against Garrett Gilbert and David Ash in 2011.
Completed 88 passes for 1,034 yards and 7 TDs.
Coming in, in relief of Ash, Case had a penchant for sparking the team to come from behind wins.
Completed a school record 124 passes before throwing his first career interception.
No game was more important than his 25-23 win over A&M in 2011.
After serving as David Ash’s backup in 2012, Case was thrust into the starting role after Ash suffered two concussions- ending his college career.
McCoy responded by rattling 6 consecutive wins for the Longhorns, including defeating Oklahoma, and a berth in the Alamo Bowl.
Finished his career ranked tenth in TD passes (34) and tenth in passing yards (3,689).
NOTES:
I decided pretty late to go to this event since I only had one card. I needed an autograph pick-me-up and this really fit the bill. It was a small event, and there weren’t that many people there. I’m not saying he’s not popular or well received- In fact Case is a folk hero for beating A&M before the Texas rivalry was put on hold. It worked to everyone’s advantage as Case was able to elaborate and ramble a little bit on his answers to our many questions giving us great insight into the game.
Among the tidbits he shared was that outside of that A&M contest- the Oklahoma games were his favorite. He told us about how Oklahoma would spend the entire season working with 4 down linemen on defense and then when they’d play Texas- they’d switch to a 3 tech- or vice versa. In the game that UT finally beat the Sooners under Case- they anticipated the switch and basically ran 3 different plays the entire contest.
Then he told us about his game against the Mountaineers where he was able to air it out. He said he loved the atmosphere there as their stadium is one of the few that sells alcohol in the stadium. He told us about the tradition of ‘warming up’ without shirts on in cold environments (a tradition started by Vince, passed to Colt, and on to Case), and how the Mountaineer fanbase had hilariously cruel things to say to him.
Then he reminisced about how the town and stadium have one road in and out, and how the cops literally had to clear the road of drunks (on the road) so that the visiting Texas bus could get out to get to the airport!
Stuff like that. I don’t want to spoil it all just in case he write a novel later but, Case had quite a fascinating yarn to spin.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
