Tag Archives: NFL 50th anniversiary team

AFL, NFL, Pro Football HoF

Mackey, John (1941-2011)

CARD: Upper Deck Legends 1997
ACQUIRED: EBay, 2020

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • 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.

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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.

NFL, Pro Football HoF

Berry, Raymond (1933-2026)

Cards: TNT Signature Select 2013, Upper Deck Legends 1997, ProSet 1989, Photo Memorabilia, Testimonial Card.
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o home
Sent: 1/2/2014   Received: 2/3/2015  (390 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

Raymond Berry was a long shot to make the Colts.  Back in 1954 when Ray was drafted, the NFL draft itself went 30 rounds deep. When he was taken in the 20th round out of SMU, teams probably recognized his heart for the game more than his uncanny route running skills and soft hands.  His rookie season was typical of many of that era with 13 receptions for 205 yards in 1955, as he began to build a rapport with future HoF Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas.  Berry quickly established himself as a starter that next year, and in 1957 led the league with 800 yards receiving.  He’d lead the NFL the next 3 seasons in catches with 56, 66, and 74 receptions- respectively.  In 1959, Berry had a career high 14 TD receptions, and followed that up with career marks in receiving yards 1,298  in 1960, averaging an astounding 108.2 yards per game.  In 1961, Ray had a career high 75 receptions en route to his 4th of 6th career Pro Bowl honors.

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Although Ray never quite saw the same titanic numbers that he enjoyed the remainder of his career,  he continued to post healthy numbers up through his final year in 1967. Over a span of 13 years in the league, Berry averaged below 50 yards a game in only 3 seasons.  Whether it was the skill of the quarterback or a combination of Ray’s precise route running and soft hands- Berry only dropped 2 passes, and fumbled once, in 631 targets over his career.  At the time of Ray’s retirement, he was the NFL’s greatest receiver as his receptions and yardage ranked first in NFL history. He also holds the record for the most receptions in an NFL championship game with 12 in 1958.

pset89 berry

Ray stayed in football and went into coaching, eventually joining the New England Patriots staff as a positional coach during the late ’70s.  He’d leave after the firing of then head coach Chuck Fairbanks, but return in 1984 replacing Ron Meyer as head coach, immediately reversing the fortunes of the team. It was said that just Berry’s presence changed the attitude of the team, and they responded with an improbable Super Bowl run in 1985, marking only the second team to make it to the Super Bowl from a Wild Card slot.  The only problem was that the Patriots ran into the historic Chicago Bears defense. The Patriots got buzzsawed 46-10.  They’d get to the playoffs again in 1986, but not return to the post season after that. An in-house squabble over personnel matters resulted in Berry resigning after the 1989 season.

Berry went to coach QBs with the Lions, and then later the Denver Broncos in 1992. He’d be released with the entirety of the Dan Reeves staff and effectively retire from coaching.

He was then a spokesman for a national insurance corporation for a bit in Tennessee after that.  

What Berry is not known for is being a visionary. Considered one of the finest ever students of the game, Berry recognized a need to teach a generation about how to play wide receiver. He was able to get the archives of many of his game films at the time, and cobbled them together into an instructional video -An incredible rarity from that era.  A few lucky fans over the years have been able to get a copy of it that has now gone as far as DVD from what I’ve been told.

Raymond earned many accolades post retirement. He is the 40th Greatest Player in NFL history and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1973.  A member of both the 50th and 75th Anniversiary NFL teams, Berry had his number retired at the time, by the then Baltimore Colts.

ACCOLADES:

  • Pro Bowl 1958-’61, ’63, ’64
  • All Pro 1958-’60, (2nd Team) 1957, ’61, ’65
  • Pro Football Hall of Fame
  • NFL 1950s All-Decade Team
  • #82 Retired (Baltimore Colts)
  • #87 Retired (SMU)
  • NFL 50th Anniversary Team
  • NFL 75th Anniversary Team
  • NFL 100th Anniversary Team
  • Baltimore Ravens Ring of Honor
  • Patriots All-Decade Team 1980s

NOTES:

 
Raymond Berry was the first person I sent out for in 2014. I had hoped he would be the first success, because of his impecable return rate. Well, 390 days and 67 returns later, I finally got the Hall of Famer on these cards- and I must say it was completely worth the wait. I’m sure that I was on the bottom of the mail bag that he was going through, as others were cashing in those successes earlier than I was. It was extremely touching because not only did he throw in a testimonial card and a signed photo, he also wrote me an incredibly kind one page letter, thanking me for the additional custom card I gave him, and telling me how much he appreciates fans like myself. His response is probably one of my favorite ever from an NFLer, little less a Hall of Famer!

Ray was a voracious TTM signer, but by 2016 things began to slow down due to age and illness. In 2018 his family began notifying fans that he no longer would be signing TTM, with him ultimately closing the door on it by 2020. A truly Hall of Fame signer, he signed thousands of requests through the mail.

EPITAPH:

6/1/26- Raymond Berry passed away peacefully surrounded by his friends and family at his home in Tennessee. He was 93.

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