Thomas Lee Mack (born November 1, 1943) is a former

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 ...

player. He was inducted into the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

in 1999. A native of

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Mack played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

and tackle positions for the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1963 to 1965. He was a starter on the 1964 Michigan team that won the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

championship and defeated

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

in the

1965 Rose Bowl The 1965 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1965, was the 51st Rose Bowl Game. The Michigan Wolverines defeated the Oregon State Beavers by a score of 34–7. Michigan fullback Mel Anthony was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game. Teams Mi ...

. He was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten player in 1965 and was inducted into the

University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor The University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs.

in 2006. Mack was selected by the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

with the second pick in the

1966 NFL Draft The 1966 National Football League draft was held at the Summit Hotel in New York City on Saturday, November 27, 1965. The expansion Atlanta Falcons were awarded the first pick in each round as well as the final pick in each of the first five rou ...

and played at the

left guard In gridiron football, a guard (G), otherwise known as an offensive guard (OG), is a player who lines up between the center and the tackles on the offensive line of a football team on the line of scrimmage used primarily for blocking. Right g ...

position for the Rams for 13 seasons from 1966 to 1978. During his NFL career, Mack played in 11

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

s and appeared in 184 consecutive games, 176 as a starter, over 13 seasons.

Early years

Mack was born in 1943 in

, and attended

Cleveland Heights High School Cleveland Heights High School (commonly known as Heights, Heights High or Heights High School) is the senior high school of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District, located in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, United States. History ...

. He was the son of

Ray Mack Raymond James Mack (born ''Raymond James Mlckovsky,'' August 31, 1916 – May 7, 1969) was a second baseman in Major League Baseball from 1938 to 1946 with the Cleveland Indians and in 1947 with the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs. In a nine ...

, a Cleveland native who played

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

as a second baseman from 1938 to 1947, including eight seasons with the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

. Mack became an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

in 1960, and he later became a recipient of the

Distinguished Eagle Scout Award The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (DESA) is a distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). It is awarded to an Eagle Scout for distinguished service in his profession and to his community for a period of at least 25 years aft ...

University of Michigan

Mack enrolled at the

in 1962 and played

for

Michigan Wolverines football The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its ...

teams from 1963 to 1965. As a sophomore in 1963, he played at the

position and spent most of the season on the bench. After the 1963 season, Mack switched to the tackle position at the suggestion of Michigan coach

Bump Elliott Chalmers William "Bump" Elliott (January 30, 1925 – December 7, 2019) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played halfback at Purdue University (1943–1944) and the University of Michigan (1946–19 ...

. Mack later referred to the position change as "the big break of my life," an opportunity that "turned my whole experience in terms of football around." As a junior, he started seven games at right tackle and won the Meyer Morton Award for the

1964 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1964 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1964 Big Ten Conference football season. In its sixth year under head coach Bump Elliott, Michigan compiled a 9–1 record, won the Big Ten Conference ch ...

that compiled a 9–1 record, outscored opponents 235–83, and defeated

in the

. As a senior, he started seven games at right tackle for the 1965 Michigan team, and he was selected by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

as a first-team tackle on the

1965 All-Big Ten Conference football team The 1965 All-Big Ten Conference football team consists of American football players chosen by various organizations for All-Big Ten Conference teams for the 1965 Big Ten Conference football season. Players receiving All-Big Ten honors in 1965 inclu ...

. Mack was inducted into the

in 2006. While attending Michigan, Mack was a member of

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...

fraternity.

Los Angeles Rams

Mack was selected by the

in the first round, as the second overall pick, in the

. During Mack's rookie season with the Rams, starter Don Chuy was injured during the fifth game of the season, allowing Mack to move into the lineup. He started nine games during the 1966 season and became a fixture for the Rams at the left guard position for the next 13 seasons. During his NFL career, Mack never missed a game due to injury, appearing in 184 consecutive contests, the third longest streak in Rams history behind

Merlin Olsen Merlin Jay Olsen (; September 15, 1940 – March 11, 2010) was an American football player, announcer, and actor. For his entire 15-year professional football career he was a defensive tackle with the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football Le ...

and

Jack Youngblood Herbert Jackson Youngblood III (born January 26, 1950) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

. During Mack's career with the Rams, the club enjoyed a .720 winning percentage with a won-lost-tie record of 129-48-7, won their division eight times (1967, 1969, and 1973-1978), and reached four NFC championship games. In 1973, the Rams scored led the NFL with 388 points (27.7 points/game). In 1974, the Rams lost to the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

by four points in the 1974 NFC Championship Game, with a controversial penalty call against Mack costing the Rams a touchdown. The Rams had the ball at the one-yard line on second down when the Vikings'

Alan Page Alan Cedric Page (born August 7, 1945) is an American retired judge and former professional football He gained national recognition as a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) during 15 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings an ...

made contact with Mack; the referee called illegal procedure on Mack, but replays showed that Mack had not moved. After the game, Mack insisted he had not moved but credited Page with "a smart play" in making contact since a penalty, if called against the Vikings, would have been meaningless. Mack was selected to 11 Pro Bowls, the first coming after his second season in 1967. He missed only one

appearance the rest of his career (1976). Mack's 11 invitations earned him a third-place tie with

Bob Lilly Robert Lewis Lilly (born July 26, 1939), nicknamed "Mr. Cowboy", is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle. After playing college football for the TCU Horned Frogs, he played for the Dallas Cowboys of the Nat ...

and

Ken Houston Kenneth Ray Houston (born November 12, 1944) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame ...

for the most selections of all time. Mack was selected first-team

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list th ...

four times (1969,

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

) and second-team All-Pro four times (1968,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, and

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

). In addition, he was named All-NFC eight times between 1970 and 1978. Mack announced in late November 1978 that he would retire at the end of the

1978 NFL season The 1978 NFL season was the 59th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded the regular season from a 14-game schedule to 16 games, which it remained in place until 2021 when it was increased to 17 games. Furthermore, ...

. He was inducted into the

in 1999.

Later years

After retiring from football, Mack worked as an engineer, using the engineering degree he received at the University of Michigan. He eventually became a lobbyist for Bechtel Group, Inc. Mack has a daughter named Carrie who attended Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, MD (Class of 1992).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mack, Tom 1943 births Living people American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles Los Angeles Rams players Michigan Wolverines football players National Conference Pro Bowl players Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Western Conference Pro Bowl players Players of American football from Cleveland American lobbyists Engineers from California Engineers from Ohio Cleveland Heights High School alumni