Max McGee

[motife]

someone told me this is Max McGee's house in Deephaven, MN, but I couldn't veryify it.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Deephaven,+MN&ie=UTF8&ll=44.929751,-93.53969&spn=0.00221,0.005847&t=h&z=18&om=1

[Guiness]

The most impressive thing about the catch was not that he caught it, but how effortless he made it look.

He has been quoted as saying he was reaching back to break up a possible INT, and the ball just sort of stuck to his hand.

[The Shadow]

Always enjoyed Max. If you recall, he was hired to fill the role that Dandy Don Meredith had on Monday Night Football. His candor was refreshing.
I always wished the radio station had paired him with a better play-by-play man than Jim Irwin, who was easily the most brutal announcer I've ever heard.

[BF4MVP]

I was hoping that Max's name in the header of ND's thread didn't mean "The Taxi" was gone. But he is, falling off a roof at 75? Sad, but does seem like a Max way to go.

Max was a special guy on that team and also lived for years for the Pack.

Lombardi liked two kinds of players. Vets you could count on in big games and players who kept the team happy and loose. In Hornung and McGee he had both. They kept the guys laughing and when the money was on the line, both guys could deliver every time.

Max was one hellacious athlete and had good moves and great hands.

He is gone now, but Max and Paul's reputation as major league party artists is well earned. Those two cut a rut from coast to coast and showed a whole ton of class while they did it.

Max made millions in business after he retired, but he didn't need the money. Because he made a million friends.

Say hi to Vince up there, pal, if they don't make you go to the temporary place first.

To make you work off them broken curfews.

Rest in Peace if ya want, I know you never liked to sleep.

Very well said..Especially the last line

[Maxie the Taxi]

Needless to say, Max McGee was my favorite Packer of all time. I was crushed when I heard he died. Guys like Max aren’t supposed to die. They’re too full of life to die.

Max was the definition of “old school,” as the JS Online article I quote at the end of this post relates.

My fondest memory of Max was as a punter who sometimes didn’t punt. One summer day I was laying on the living room floor watching the game on TV with my cousins. I think it was the College All Star game, the one the Packers lost. I could be wrong. As I remember it, the Packers desperately needed a first down late in the first half but failed to convert. Max went back to punt. My cousin was angry. “Don’t punt it, Lombardi!” He yelled at the TV. I rolled over calmly and said: “Don’t worry, Tommy, Max isn’t going to punt it.”

Sure enough. McGee took the snap, took a step and made like he was going to drop the ball, then hopped to his right, thought for a split second and took off. He made the first down.

McGee was the type of football player a young guy like me could look up to. Yeah, he could crack jokes and make mischief at night, but when the chips were down and you needed a play, you knew Max would be there and you knew he’d come through.

I especially like Max’s quote at the end of the article about modern showboating and how he despised it. So typical of Max and his generation. If you don’t understand why he despised it, then you don’t understand “old school,” and you’ll never understand why old school guys who have money like 75 year old Max McGee (and my 83 year old father) crawl around on ladders blowing leaves out of their own rain gutters.

With old school guys like Max (and my father), it isn’t about the money. It never was.

Rest in peace, Maxie the Taxi.

McGee brought plenty to the Packer partyBy ROB REISCHEL
SPECIAL TO PACKER PLUS
Posted: Oct. 17, 2002

On the field, he produced one highlight after another. Off the field, he might have assembled even more.

Whether he was playing for the Green Bay Packers or broadcasting their games, Max McGee was arguably as colorful as anyone who ever passed through the organization.

A standout wide receiver during the team's Glory Years, McGee built a reputation for having as much, or more fun away from the field as he did on it.

"Yeah, I think that's safe to say," the 70-year-old McGee said from his Edina, Minn., office last week. "I was fortunate to spend my whole time in Green Bay because we had a hell of a time. Today, it's just a money game, but back then we had loyalties."

McGee has never lost the loyalties he speaks of. His 13-year-old son, Dallas, has diabetes and McGee promised him he'd do everything he could to help find a cure.

So today McGee works with the National Research Center for Juvenile Diabetes at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, trying to raise money to someday find a cure.

"We have diabetes in my family and I feel sort of guilty about Dallas," said McGee, who also remains active in the restaurant business. "I want to do anything I can to help. And I will."

McGee certainly did everything he could to help the Packers win Super Bowl I. And no one was more surprised by it than he was.

McGee had been a Packer standout for years after coming to Green Bay in the fifth round from Tulane in 1954. He was called into the Air Force during the Korean War in 1955-'56, then returned to Green Bay in 1957. McGee led the team in receptions in 1958 and from 1960-'62. He was a starting wide receiver through 1964, as the Packers dominated the rest of the NFL.
By the time Super Bowl I rolled around, though, on Jan. 15, 1967, McGee was a little-used reserve who had caught just four passes all season. But when Boyd Dowler was injured on Green Bay's first series, it was McGee to the rescue.

Over the remainder of the afternoon, McGee produced one of the greatest games in Super Bowl history, catching seven passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns as Green Bay bested Kansas City, 35-10.

"After I had scored those two touchdowns, (Paul) Hornung came over to me and said, 'You're going to be the MVP,' " McGee said. "Well I wasn't, but it was a heck of a game."

And a heck of an evening before the game.

Because McGee believed he had virtually no shot playing in the game, he says he risked the $15,000 fine and sneaked out the night before to meet up with two stewardesses he had met earlier that day. McGee claims he was out all night and went into Super Bowl I on virtually no sleep.

Dave "Hawg" Hanner, who was in charge of bed checks, recently claimed McGee was full of hot air and his story of dodging curfew was sheer fiction. McGee, though, says otherwise.

"Hawg's one of my favorite buddies, but he's trying to cover his ass on this one," McGee said. "I was rooming with Hornung and Hornung didn't want to risk going out because the fine was the same as our game check was going to be.

"But when Hawg stuck his head in, I said, 'Are you going to be checking late?' He screamed, 'You damned right I am,' then he stuck his head back in and shook it no. Well, I almost ran him over trying to get out."

McGee was notorious for such antics. He and Hornung both loved the night life, and often seemed to divvy up as much in fines as they brought home.
While McGee would often drive coach Vince Lombardi nuts, there was a mutual respect between the two.

"Not to pat myself on the back, but he was very confident when I was playing that I could give him some big plays," McGee said.

One such play that proved how much McGee could push the envelope came in the 1960 NFL Championship Game in Philadelphia.

McGee, who also punted, loved to fake a punt and take off running under former coaches Lisle Blackbourn and Scooter McClean. But when Lombardi arrived, he told McGee that wouldn't be tolerated unless the instruction came from him.

With Green Bay needing a spark in the fourth quarter, McGee took off running on a fake punt from his own goal line and picked up 40 yards.
McGee later capped the drive with a 7-yard TD reception from Bart Starr for a 13-10 Green Bay lead. Although the Eagles rallied back for a 17-13 victory, McGee's run remains legendary.

"If I hadn't made it, I would have never played another down in Green Bay," McGee said. "I know that much."

Little did McGee know then that he'd still be with the Packers nearly 40 years later.

When McGee's playing days ended following the 1967 season, he did some television and radio broadcasting and was broadcasting Penn State football with Ray Scott in 1980.

Jim Irwin and Lionel Aldridge were calling Packer games for WTMJ radio at the time, but when Aldridge became ill, McGee got the call.

"They told me the game was in L.A.," McGee said. "And I said, 'I'll be there. Maybe I can find those stewardesses again.' Had it been in St. Louis or something, I would have probably said no."

Many Packer fans feel fortunate he didn't. Over the next 19 years, McGee and Irwin developed a cult following through the state that many were sad to see end when the two retired following the 1998 season.

"I never claimed to be an announcer," McGee said. "What it did was give me a platform to tell people the truth and what was really going on.

"We saw a lot of bad football early on and I'd tell people when a guy made a dumb-ass play. And I'd tell jokes and be funny and Jim was kind of a homer who people liked. I think it worked perfectly."

Just like his Packer career.

"I'm glad I got to play when I did," McGee said. "I don't even like football anymore because every time a guy gets a hand in on a tackle, he's doing a back-flip or pounding his chest.

"I played at a great time with some great guys. And even though the money wasn't close to what it's like today, we had a great time."

From http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=88220

[KYPack]

Hang in there Maxie the Taxi.

Both of ya.

[Rastak]

Needless to say, Max McGee was my favorite Packer of all time. I was crushed when I heard he died. Guys like Max aren’t supposed to die. They’re too full of life to die.

Max was the definition of “old school,” as the JS Online article I quote at the end of this post relates.

My fondest memory of Max was as a punter who sometimes didn’t punt. One summer day I was laying on the living room floor watching the game on TV with my cousins. I think it was the College All Star game, the one the Packers lost. I could be wrong. As I remember it, the Packers desperately needed a first down late in the first half but failed to convert. Max went back to punt. My cousin was angry. “Don’t punt it, Lombardi!” He yelled at the TV. I rolled over calmly and said: “Don’t worry, Tommy, Max isn’t going to punt it.”

Sure enough. McGee took the snap, took a step and made like he was going to drop the ball, then hopped to his right, thought for a split second and took off. He made the first down.

McGee was the type of football player a young guy like me could look up to. Yeah, he could crack jokes and make mischief at night, but when the chips were down and you needed a play, you knew Max would be there and you knew he’d come through.

I especially like Max’s quote at the end of the article about modern showboating and how he despised it. So typical of Max and his generation. If you don’t understand why he despised it, then you don’t understand “old school,” and you’ll never understand why old school guys who have money like 75 year old Max McGee (and my 83 year old father) crawl around on ladders blowing leaves out of their own rain gutters.

With old school guys like Max (and my father), it isn’t about the money. It never was.

Rest in peace, Maxie the Taxi.

McGee brought plenty to the Packer partyBy ROB REISCHEL
SPECIAL TO PACKER PLUS
Posted: Oct. 17, 2002

On the field, he produced one highlight after another. Off the field, he might have assembled even more.

Whether he was playing for the Green Bay Packers or broadcasting their games, Max McGee was arguably as colorful as anyone who ever passed through the organization.

A standout wide receiver during the team's Glory Years, McGee built a reputation for having as much, or more fun away from the field as he did on it.

"Yeah, I think that's safe to say," the 70-year-old McGee said from his Edina, Minn., office last week. "I was fortunate to spend my whole time in Green Bay because we had a hell of a time. Today, it's just a money game, but back then we had loyalties."

McGee has never lost the loyalties he speaks of. His 13-year-old son, Dallas, has diabetes and McGee promised him he'd do everything he could to help find a cure.

So today McGee works with the National Research Center for Juvenile Diabetes at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, trying to raise money to someday find a cure.

"We have diabetes in my family and I feel sort of guilty about Dallas," said McGee, who also remains active in the restaurant business. "I want to do anything I can to help. And I will."

McGee certainly did everything he could to help the Packers win Super Bowl I. And no one was more surprised by it than he was.

McGee had been a Packer standout for years after coming to Green Bay in the fifth round from Tulane in 1954. He was called into the Air Force during the Korean War in 1955-'56, then returned to Green Bay in 1957. McGee led the team in receptions in 1958 and from 1960-'62. He was a starting wide receiver through 1964, as the Packers dominated the rest of the NFL.
By the time Super Bowl I rolled around, though, on Jan. 15, 1967, McGee was a little-used reserve who had caught just four passes all season. But when Boyd Dowler was injured on Green Bay's first series, it was McGee to the rescue.

Over the remainder of the afternoon, McGee produced one of the greatest games in Super Bowl history, catching seven passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns as Green Bay bested Kansas City, 35-10.

"After I had scored those two touchdowns, (Paul) Hornung came over to me and said, 'You're going to be the MVP,' " McGee said. "Well I wasn't, but it was a heck of a game."

And a heck of an evening before the game.

Because McGee believed he had virtually no shot playing in the game, he says he risked the $15,000 fine and sneaked out the night before to meet up with two stewardesses he had met earlier that day. McGee claims he was out all night and went into Super Bowl I on virtually no sleep.

Dave "Hawg" Hanner, who was in charge of bed checks, recently claimed McGee was full of hot air and his story of dodging curfew was sheer fiction. McGee, though, says otherwise.

"Hawg's one of my favorite buddies, but he's trying to cover his ass on this one," McGee said. "I was rooming with Hornung and Hornung didn't want to risk going out because the fine was the same as our game check was going to be.

"But when Hawg stuck his head in, I said, 'Are you going to be checking late?' He screamed, 'You damned right I am,' then he stuck his head back in and shook it no. Well, I almost ran him over trying to get out."

McGee was notorious for such antics. He and Hornung both loved the night life, and often seemed to divvy up as much in fines as they brought home.
While McGee would often drive coach Vince Lombardi nuts, there was a mutual respect between the two.

"Not to pat myself on the back, but he was very confident when I was playing that I could give him some big plays," McGee said.

One such play that proved how much McGee could push the envelope came in the 1960 NFL Championship Game in Philadelphia.

McGee, who also punted, loved to fake a punt and take off running under former coaches Lisle Blackbourn and Scooter McClean. But when Lombardi arrived, he told McGee that wouldn't be tolerated unless the instruction came from him.

With Green Bay needing a spark in the fourth quarter, McGee took off running on a fake punt from his own goal line and picked up 40 yards.
McGee later capped the drive with a 7-yard TD reception from Bart Starr for a 13-10 Green Bay lead. Although the Eagles rallied back for a 17-13 victory, McGee's run remains legendary.

"If I hadn't made it, I would have never played another down in Green Bay," McGee said. "I know that much."

Little did McGee know then that he'd still be with the Packers nearly 40 years later.

When McGee's playing days ended following the 1967 season, he did some television and radio broadcasting and was broadcasting Penn State football with Ray Scott in 1980.

Jim Irwin and Lionel Aldridge were calling Packer games for WTMJ radio at the time, but when Aldridge became ill, McGee got the call.

"They told me the game was in L.A.," McGee said. "And I said, 'I'll be there. Maybe I can find those stewardesses again.' Had it been in St. Louis or something, I would have probably said no."

Many Packer fans feel fortunate he didn't. Over the next 19 years, McGee and Irwin developed a cult following through the state that many were sad to see end when the two retired following the 1998 season.

"I never claimed to be an announcer," McGee said. "What it did was give me a platform to tell people the truth and what was really going on.

"We saw a lot of bad football early on and I'd tell people when a guy made a dumb-ass play. And I'd tell jokes and be funny and Jim was kind of a homer who people liked. I think it worked perfectly."

Just like his Packer career.

"I'm glad I got to play when I did," McGee said. "I don't even like football anymore because every time a guy gets a hand in on a tackle, he's doing a back-flip or pounding his chest.

"I played at a great time with some great guys. And even though the money wasn't close to what it's like today, we had a great time."

From http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=88220

Many here seem to like that crap......

[retailguy]

I especially like Max’s quote at the end of the article about modern showboating and how he despised it. So typical of Max and his generation. If you don’t understand why he despised it, then you don’t understand “old school,” and you’ll never understand why old school guys who have money like 75 year old Max McGee (and my 83 year old father) crawl around on ladders blowing leaves out of their own rain gutters.

Well, I agree with what you say, I had grandparents like Max, but, today, what do you think Max would say if you gave him a chance for a "do over"? My guess is ABC123 rain gutter cleaning would have a "lifetime" contract from old Max.

It isn't all bad that our generation doesn't think EXACTLY like Max's. I've got no idea how my time to check out will occur, but I know, I won't fall off the roof, or injure myself doing yard work.... I'll happily pay for that, and am sure, I'm not as wealthy as Max is/was.

[Maxie the Taxi]

I especially like Max’s quote at the end of the article about modern showboating and how he despised it. So typical of Max and his generation. If you don’t understand why he despised it, then you don’t understand “old school,” and you’ll never understand why old school guys who have money like 75 year old Max McGee (and my 83 year old father) crawl around on ladders blowing leaves out of their own rain gutters.

Well, I agree with what you say, I had grandparents like Max, but, today, what do you think Max would say if you gave him a chance for a "do over"? My guess is ABC123 rain gutter cleaning would have a "lifetime" contract from old Max.

It isn't all bad that our generation doesn't think EXACTLY like Max's. I've got no idea how my time to check out will occur, but I know, I won't fall off the roof, or injure myself doing yard work.... I'll happily pay for that, and am sure, I'm not as wealthy as Max is/was.

I hear ya. I solved the yard work problem by moving into a Florida condo.

On the other hand, I'm almost Max's generation and I think the country and the world would be in much better shape if my generation had thought exactly like Max and your grandparents. I'm not talking do-it-yourselfing. I'm talking the intangibles...independence, responsibility, loyalty, simplicity, honesty, humility, etc., etc., etc.

[MJZiggy]

I'm talking the intangibles...independence, responsibility, loyalty, simplicity, honesty, humility, etc., etc., etc.

Stubborn, stupid pride...etc., etc., etc.,

[Rastak]

I especially like Max’s quote at the end of the article about modern showboating and how he despised it. So typical of Max and his generation. If you don’t understand why he despised it, then you don’t understand “old school,” and you’ll never understand why old school guys who have money like 75 year old Max McGee (and my 83 year old father) crawl around on ladders blowing leaves out of their own rain gutters.

Well, I agree with what you say, I had grandparents like Max, but, today, what do you think Max would say if you gave him a chance for a "do over"? My guess is ABC123 rain gutter cleaning would have a "lifetime" contract from old Max.

It isn't all bad that our generation doesn't think EXACTLY like Max's. I've got no idea how my time to check out will occur, but I know, I won't fall off the roof, or injure myself doing yard work.... I'll happily pay for that, and am sure, I'm not as wealthy as Max is/was.

I hear ya. I solved the yard work problem by moving into a Florida condo.

On the other hand, I'm almost Max's generation and I think the country and the world would be in much better shape if my generation had thought exactly like Max and your grandparents. I'm not talking do-it-yourselfing. I'm talking the intangibles...independence, responsibility, loyalty, simplicity, honesty, humility, etc., etc., etc.

Yea, as I mentioned earlier in this very thread....I can see a guy doing what he always did......my neighbor is a wonderful guy, but he's an old dude and should NOT be strolling around the roof. Shit, I'd do it for him if he asked.....but as others have said, a guy wants to do his own thing and is proud of it.

[Patler]

I'm talking the intangibles...independence, responsibility, loyalty, simplicity, honesty, humility, etc., etc., etc.

Stubborn, stupid pride...etc., etc., etc.,

So at what age should old people be put on the shelf so they don't hurt themselves?

Young people fall off roofs, too. It happens to experienced roofers, not just old guys.

What he did is no different than the younger person who drives too fast, has unprotected sex with random partners, sky dives, mountain climbs, rock climbs or engages in other behavior that has an element of risk and is not an activity that HAS to be done. People at all ages take risks they don't have to take. Occasionally, someone pays for it. Often it is a young person.

I say let them do what they want to do and feel they can do. My dad cut his own firewood with a gas chainsaw until he was almost 90. I didn't like and I worried, but he felt good doing it. He quit on his own when he felt he couldn't.

[MJZiggy]

I'm talking the intangibles...independence, responsibility, loyalty, simplicity, honesty, humility, etc., etc., etc.

Stubborn, stupid pride...etc., etc., etc.,

So at what age should old people be put on the shelf so they don't hurt themselves?

I say let them do what they want to do and feel they can do. My dad cut his own firewood with a gas chainsaw until he was almost 90. I didn't like and I worried, but he felt good doing it. He quit on his own when he felt he couldn't.

You answered your own question. My dad, sadly should not be cutting his own wood (thankfully he doesn't have to) or shoveling his own walk (after a few heart attacks) or driving (since the Alzheimers diagnosis or at least since the resulting degeneration). At 85, he and my mom had the option of moving into an assisted living apartment where they would have had someone checking on them, kept their independence and had one of those senior buses that could have taken them places, but no. They live in a city with none of their litter of kids near enough to take care of them and are either going to kill themselves shoveling or kill someone else with that damned car! [/rant]

[retailguy]

I especially like Max’s quote at the end of the article about modern showboating and how he despised it. So typical of Max and his generation. If you don’t understand why he despised it, then you don’t understand “old school,” and you’ll never understand why old school guys who have money like 75 year old Max McGee (and my 83 year old father) crawl around on ladders blowing leaves out of their own rain gutters.

Well, I agree with what you say, I had grandparents like Max, but, today, what do you think Max would say if you gave him a chance for a "do over"? My guess is ABC123 rain gutter cleaning would have a "lifetime" contract from old Max.

It isn't all bad that our generation doesn't think EXACTLY like Max's. I've got no idea how my time to check out will occur, but I know, I won't fall off the roof, or injure myself doing yard work.... I'll happily pay for that, and am sure, I'm not as wealthy as Max is/was.

I hear ya. I solved the yard work problem by moving into a Florida condo.

On the other hand, I'm almost Max's generation and I think the country and the world would be in much better shape if my generation had thought exactly like Max and your grandparents. I'm not talking do-it-yourselfing. I'm talking the intangibles...independence, responsibility, loyalty, simplicity, honesty, humility, etc., etc., etc.

Gosh, I really agree with this, but I have found that you really don't get one without the other very often.

It is a "state of mind". Max was on the roof, because he was ALWAYS on the roof, why change now? Denial, partially. I can do it. I'm not getting old, it'll be ok. I don't want to look old, feel old. I never paid for that type of service in my life and I'm not going to start now...

Sad. Just sad. but the other things you mentioned? Great values, I strive for them every day. Not sure i always achieve them, probably not to the level of Max's generation, but hey I'm trying.

[retailguy]

I'm talking the intangibles...independence, responsibility, loyalty, simplicity, honesty, humility, etc., etc., etc.

Stubborn, stupid pride...etc., etc., etc.,

So at what age should old people be put on the shelf so they don't hurt themselves?

I say let them do what they want to do and feel they can do. My dad cut his own firewood with a gas chainsaw until he was almost 90. I didn't like and I worried, but he felt good doing it. He quit on his own when he felt he couldn't.

You answered your own question. My dad, sadly should not be cutting his own wood (thankfully he doesn't have to) or shoveling his own walk (after a few heart attacks) or driving (since the Alzheimers diagnosis or at least since the resulting degeneration). At 85, he and my mom had the option of moving into an assisted living apartment where they would have had someone checking on them, kept their independence and had one of those senior buses that could have taken them places, but no. They live in a city with none of their litter of kids near enough to take care of them and are either going to kill themselves shoveling or kill someone else with that damned car! [/rant]

I don't think it's an "age" thing. it seems to me to be a "state of mind". You either display it or you don't. Patler, obviously your dad had the knowledge to know when to quit and that he couldn't do it forever. Maybe Max just "tripped", but maybe he was "too old" and refused to admit it.

My dad had a heart attack and didn't go to the hospital for about 3 days. Kept insisting it was indegestion. Damn near killed him. He KNEW better but refused to admit it. There is a difference and I live watching it every day.