By By STEVE MORRISON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – If you wished to sit down and have the unique opportunity to interview a former National Football League player, who sports a Super Bowl Ring, where would you expect to find an available celebrity? Notre Dame? Chicago? Canton, Ohio?
No, the answer is easier than you might think. Just attend a Niles Ring Lardner Junior High School football game, like on Wednesday, and you might be fortunate to find Bill "Red" Mack enjoying the encounter.
Mack has viewed most of the Ring Lardner football games this fall because of a friendship that he maintains with local resident Carol Martindale, whose grandson, Alex Landon, is an offensive guard, defensive end and punter for the Lardner Vikings.
What a refreshing and enjoyable conversation it was. Mack was the antithesis of the present-day stereotypic image of the many rich, overpaid athletes that hog the headlines.
Mack was modest and articulate as he recalled the years that he spent as a wide receiver for Notre Dame and then as a 10th-round draft pick with the Pittsburg Steelers. Mack would also play for the Philadelphia Eagles and the 1967 Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers.
Mack vividly recalled his favorite moment in an Irish uniform. "We were playing Southern Methodist. In my only run during the game, I scored a 45-yard touchdown, and we beat them. They had a quarterback you might remember, Don Meredith (later of the Dallas Cowboys and an original member of the "Monday Night Football" broadcasting team).
"I played for Terry Brennan and after he got fired, I played for Joe Kuharich," Mack continued. "I got drafted by the Steelers in the 10th round in 1961," he added, indicating that he was slightly, but pleasantly surprised.
"I was with Pittsburgh for five years (1961-65). I dislocated my shoulder. Then I was traded to Philadelphia."
In 1963 Mack reminisced, "we played the Cowboys in Dallas right after the Kennedy assassination. We weren't allowed to wear our regular jerseys, because the Pittsburgh emblem kind of looked like a bulls-eye!"
Mack was the second-leading pass receiver on that '63 Steeler team with 25 receptions for 618 yards and three touchdowns. In six professional seasons he scored eight touchdowns on 52 catches, accumulating 1,159 yards.
In the 1966 preseason, Mack was with the expansion Atlanta Falcons, but was cut before the regular season."
Then fate shone favorably on Mack. One of Green Bay's receivers, Bob Long, got hurt, and Mack received the opportunity that any football player would dream of. He was signed by the Packers, appeared in eight games on special teams, and acquired the coveted Super Bowl ring that he possesses today, when 'The Pack' defeated Kansas City 35-10 in the Super Bowl.
In the NFL playoff game against Dallas, preceding the Super Bowl, Mack made a significant play. "I made a tackle on the kickoff, and it caused a fumble." Green Bay took the ball in for the score, and was on its way to the ultimate prize.
Mack spoke admirably of legendary Packer coach Vince Lombardi.
"Lombardi was thorough. If you got caught beyond the 11 p.m. curfew, it cost you a $500 fine," he said.
Mack indicated that his best salary was around $12,000. Imagine the superstar of today forfeiting almost five percent of his yearly paycheck. That's $50,000 for every million paid on the modern scale.
"By winning the NFL Championship and the Super Bowl I earned $25,000, which was equal to two year's salary," he said. "We had to work in the off-season. I worked for Jones-Lockman Steel Company in Pittsburgh one year and later I worked sales for a trucking company."
Can you just imagine some of the pampered stars of today having to really make an effort to make money, other than sporting goods endorsements, to make ends meet and support a family.
"My wife and I had three boys; two graduated from Notre Dame and one from Indiana University," he noted.
Mack still resides nearby in South Bend, Ind.
As we wrapped up the conversation before the Ring Lardner-St. Joseph game, Mack added a history lesson to be passed to generations of the present and future,
"The Packers, at that time, had a bullpen outside the locker room. Now, after the game was over, you had to go outside and sign autographs because Lombardi said, 'You have to give those people the time of the day, answer their questions, and sign their autographs because their dad might pay your salary.'"