Former Green Bay receiver Max McGee dies in fall from roof

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-obit-mcgee&prov=ap&type=lgns
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Max McGee, the unexpected hero of the first Super Bowl and a long-time challenge for Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi, died Saturday after falling from the roof of his home, police confirmed. He was 75.

Police were called to the former Green Bay receiver's Deephaven home around 5:20 p.m., Sgt. Chris Whiteside said. Efforts to resuscitate McGee were unsuccessful.

McGee was blowing leaves off the roof when he fell, according to news reports. A phone message left at a number listed for an M. McGee wasn't immediately returned.

"I just lost my best friend," former teammate Paul Hornung told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "(His wife) Denise was away from the house. She'd warned him not to get up there. He shouldn't have been up there. He knew better than that."

Inserted into Packers' lineup when Boyd Dowler was sidelined by a shoulder injury, McGee went on to catch the first touchdown pass in Super Bowl history in Green Bay's 35-10 victory over Kansas City in January 1967. Still hung over from a night on the town, McGee caught seven passes for 138 yards and two TDs.

"Now he'll be the answer to one of the great trivia questions: Who scored the first touchdown in Super Bowl history?" Hornung said. "Vince knew he could count on him. ... He was a great athlete. He could do anything with his hands."

Though an admirer of Lombardi, McGee time and again pushed the tough-as-nails coach to the breaking point.

McGee -- remembered for saying: "When it's third-and-10, you can take the milk drinkers and I'll take the whiskey drinkers every time." -- put Lombardi to the ultimate test prior to the first Super Bowl.

McGee had caught only four passes for 91 yards during the 1966 regular season and, not expecting to play against the Chiefs, violated the team's curfew and spent the night before the game partying.

Reportedly, the next morning he told Dowler: "I hope you don't get hurt. I'm not in very good shape."

Dowler went down with a separated shoulder on the Packers' second drive, and McGee had to borrow a helmet because he left his in the locker room. A few plays later, McGee made a one-handed reception of a pass from Bart Starr and ran 37 yards to score.

"He had a delightful sense of humor and had a knack for coming up with big plays when you least expected it to happen," Packers historian Lee Remmel said. "He had a great sense of timing."

Remmel said McGee once teased Lombardi when the coach showed the team a football on their first meeting and said, "Gentlemen, this is a football."

"McGee said, 'Not so fast, not so fast,"' Remmel said. "That gives you an index to the kind of humor that he served up regularly."

<ship>
:patriot:
Fly on in peace my good friend.

and playing in a hangover.
:rofl:

These old guys think they're still 30 and can do stuff like that - they don't realize their balance isn't what it was.
RIP.

Very sad.

I'm doing this from memory, so some details may not be accurate.

McGee was famous as a Packers "night crawler," and one time after he blew a curfew, Lombardi went off on him.

"MAX!" he yelled. "That's $250! Do it again and it'll be $500!"

Of course, McGee blew another curfew soon after.

"MAX! That's $500! Do it again and it'll be $1,000!"

The veins in Lombardi's temples were about to burst. Nobody said a word for several seconds. Then Lombardi slowly broke into a smile.

"Max," he said. "If you can find something worth $1,000 — hell, tell me and I'll go with you."

:D



RIP, Max.

:yoiks:

/off to hell

:kick:
For the next day.

Sometimes, the anti-authoritarian types need to be told TO do something.

Poor Max. Poor Mrs. McGee.

Somehow, I prefer a bad-boy in the mold of Max McGee to a bad-boy in the mold of (fill in name of latest NFL felon here).

:shrug:

My house roof is too steep for that. But I get on the garage to blow leaves out of the gutter, or to shovel snow off the roof if it seems like a heavy load.

Thank you.