Mack Willie Herron (July 24, 1948 – December 6, 2015) was a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

from 1973 to 1976. He played college football at

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

, where he finished second in the nation in scoring during his senior season in 1969.

History

Standing and weighing in at , Herron was selected by the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

in the sixth round (143rd overall) of the

1970 NFL Draft The 1970 National Football League Draft was the 35th National Football League Draft and the first of the league's modern era, following the merger of the National Football League with the American Football League. It was held on January 27–28, 1 ...

, but joined the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

out of college. In 1972, while playing for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

, he won the

Eddie James Memorial Trophy The Eddie James Memorial Trophy is a Canadian Football League trophy, awarded to the leading rusher in the West Division. Unlike other CFL trophies, there is no equivalent for the East Division. The award is named after Eddie James, a former r ...

for being the leading rusher in the CFL's West Division. He led the league in

all-purpose yards All-purpose yards or all-purpose yardage is a gridiron football statistical measure. It is virtually the same as the statistic that some football leagues refer to as combined net yards. In the game of football, progress is measured by advancing t ...

in both of his CFL seasons. The Blue Bombers released him as a result of a drug arrest in May 1972. Herron moved to the NFL in 1973, when he joined the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. He later played for the

. In three seasons, he gained 1,298 rushing yards and scored 9 rushing touchdowns.Neft, David S. & Cohen, Richard M. ''The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of Professional NFL Football from 1892 to the Present''.

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

, 1991. . He also caught 61 passes in his career for 789 yards and 6 touchdowns. After leading the NFL in kickoff returns and kickoff return yardage in 1973, Herron's best season was 1974 with the Patriots, when he set the then-NFL record for

with 2,444. The Patriots released him midway through the following season, with coach

Chuck Fairbanks Charles Leo Fairbanks (June 10, 1933 – April 2, 2013) was a football coach who was a head coach at the high school, college and professional levels. He served as the head coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1967 to 1972 and at the Universi ...

claiming the release was the result of disappointment with Herron's performance that season and with a late night party Herron threw for teammate

Leon Gray Leon Gray (November 15, 1951 – November 11, 2001) was an American football offensive tackle in the National Football League for the New England Patriots, Houston Oilers, and the New Orleans Saints. Gray played college football at Jackson Sta ...

. He was then signed by the Falcons. He remains 16th all time in career punt return average and 86th in kickoff return average. In 2009, he was named by the Patriots Hall of Fame nomination committee to the Patriots All-Decade Team for the 1970s as a kick returner. Herron, a devout Muslim who did not drink or smoke, was arrested some 20 times and served jail time, mainly on drug convictions, according to Chicago Police.Sinclair, Gordon
"How heroin felled a hero"
''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...

'', April 2, 2013. Retrieved on May 11, 2013. He died on December 6, 2015, at the age of 67.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herron, Mack 1948 births 2015 deaths American football running backs Canadian football running backs Atlanta Falcons players Farragut Career Academy alumni Hutchinson Blue Dragons football players Kansas State Wildcats football players New England Patriots players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Sportspeople from Biloxi, Mississippi Players of American football from Mississippi African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football African-American Muslims 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people