[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 100 (Thursday, July 7, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4447-S4448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING JOHN MACKEY

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, Baltimore lost one of its most beloved 
adopted sons last night, former Baltimore Colt tight end John Mackey. 
John revolutionized the position and was the second tight end to be 
enshrined in the National Football League's, NFL, Hall of Fame. He 
became the first president of the NFL Players Association, NFLPA, after 
the NFL merged with the old American Football League. He was a 
tenacious and effective advocate for the players, bargaining for higher 
salaries and better benefits. He organized a 3-day strike early in his 
tenure that generated an additional $11 million in pensions and 
benefits. Mackey also filed and won an antitrust lawsuit against the 
NFL which eliminated the so-called ``Rozelle Rule'' and ultimately 
paved the way for players' union to secure full free agency for its 
members.

[[Page S4448]]

For the last 10 years, he suffered from dementia and had to move into 
an assisted living facility that cost much more than his pension. So he 
and his beloved wife Sylvia led the fight to convince the NFLPA and the 
NFL to establish the ``88 Plan,'' named for his uniform number, which 
provides adult day care and nursing home care for retired players 
suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Even in death, John 
continues to give: Sylvia has announced that his brain will be donated 
to a Boston University School of Medicine study of brain damage in 
athletes. Researchers at the university's Center for the Study of 
Traumatic Encephalopathy are examining potential links between repeated 
concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE, a condition 
which mirrors symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
  John Mackey grew up in Roosevelt, NY. He was a man of strong 
convictions, a character trait he inherited from his father, who was a 
Baptist minister. John was offered an appointment to the U.S. Naval 
Academy but turned it down to attend Syracuse University, where he 
studied economics, became an All-American football player, and roomed 
with Ernie Davis, who became the first African American to win the 
Heisman Trophy. The Colts drafted him in 1963 and he caught more 
touchdown passes and gained more yards as a rookie than the team's two 
wide receivers, Hall of Famer Raymond Berry and Jimmy Orr. John was big 
and strong, like other tight ends of his era, but he could run after 
catching a pass like no other tight end before him. As Hall of Fame 
coach Don Shula said, ``Mackey gave us a tight end who weighed 230, ran 
a 4.6 and could catch the bomb. It was a weapon other teams didn't 
have.''
  John was a three-time All-NFL selection. He played in five Pro Bowls. 
In 1969, while still playing, he made the NFL's 50th anniversary team 
as pro football's all-time tight end. Over the course of his career, he 
caught 38 touchdown passes, 13 of which were for 50 yards or more, 
including an 89-yarder against the Los Angeles Rams in 1966. That 
particular touchdown pass was the longest of the 290 scoring passes in 
Hall of Fame legend Johnny Unitas's career. In a 10-year career, John 
caught 331 passes for 5,236 yards. Perhaps the biggest and most 
memorable play in John's career came in the 1971 Super Bowl, when he 
caught a pass from Unitas that had been deflected by two other 
players--Colts receiver Eddie Hinton and Dallas Cowboys defender Mike 
Renfro--and scored a touchdown on the 75-yard play. The Colts went on 
to win that game in dramatic fashion on Jim O'Brien's field goal with 5 
seconds left in the game.
  By the time John retired, he had already endeared himself to the 
people of Baltimore, but he wasn't finished. He was elected to the Hall 
of Fame in 1992, but he refused to accept his ceremonial ring in 
Indianapolis, where the Colts had moved in 1984. He said, ``I will do 
it in Baltimore. That is where I played.'' And so he received his Hall 
of Fame ring in Memorial Stadium, at half-time of an exhibition game 
between Miami and New Orleans.
  I send my deepest condolences to John's wife Sylvia, to whom he was 
married for 47 years; his son John Kevin Mackey of Atlanta; two 
daughters Lisa Mackey Hazel of Bowie and Laura Mackey Nattans of 
Baltimore; and John and Sylvia's six grandchildren. John Mackey has 
been taken from us much too soon, but what a life he lived. He was one 
of the greatest collegiate and professional football players of all 
time. The Mackey Award is given annually to the best tight end in 
college. He is enshrined in the Hall of Fame. He led the NFLPA and then 
courageously led the fight for retired players which culminated in the 
``88 Plan.'' His accomplishments and legacy will endure in the hearts 
and minds of his fellow players and Baltimore Colts fans and football 
fans forever.

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