Football is king in Ohio, but Cleveland's favorite sons are the hometown Browns & Indians, who have a history and tradition within their respective sports as charter members that only a few other teams and towns can match. Simply said, those Cleveland natives who go on to play professional sports and those adopted sons of the hometown Browns or Tribe are Cleveland's favorite sons.
Ray Mack earned distinction in both catagories. The Bucyrus resident is fondly remembered as No. 6 when an Indian second-sacker in the 1940s with Hall-Of-Famer Lou Boudreau and fireballer Bob Feller. Mack ended his career with a pair of cameo appearances with the New York Yankees, where he wore No. 25 and the Chicago Cubs as No. 49. Mack is more famously-known for his assist on the putout of Joe DiMaggio's final at-bat the night the Yankee Clipper's 56-game hit streak died in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium on July 17, 1941. Mack earned an All-Star Game nod in 1940 and also saved Bob Feller's Opening Day no-hitter versus the Chicago White Sox (4-16-40) with a brilliant defensive play, the only no-hitter thrown in an opener.
Mack's two sons earned a name for themselves, too. Tom Mack was an All-American guard for Coach Bump Elliott at the University of Michigan in the 1960s. Drafted 2nd in the NFL draft by the Los Angeles Rams, Mack played 13 NFL seasons and earned himself enshrinement into the Hall-Of-Fame in nearby Canton, Ohio.
Younger brother Dick Mack was an Ohio State Buckeye, snubbed in recruitment by Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, a slight that caused a well-publicized rift between the older Mack son and the Michigan program. Dick Mack was 2-0-1 versus Michigan (freshmen remained ineligible until after Mack's freshman year) as the Buckeyes marched to Big Ten championships in three consecutive seasons. The younger brother was voted the greatest Buckeye ever to wear No. 69, a uniform assignment that many Buckeye followers believed to be intentional. Why? Because Tom Mack had worn No. 96 at Michigan.
Ironically, it would be the Michigan State Spartans -- not Michigan -- that would be the only Big Ten team to defeat Ohio State in those years. "Michigan State had good teams and we went up there in '74 and were knocking on the goalline when they (MSU) laid on us at the goalline as the final seconds ticked off," Dick Mack recalled over dinner this week. "Woody was so mad, he marched on the field with a chair waiting for conference officials, particularly the commissioner, to reverse the outcome. Levi Jackson had come back from injury and made a long run (88 yards) for them in that game. They definitely earned that win."
Mack also recalled the Michigan loyalists who tried so hard to let Ohio State know that the annual game was just a blip on the radar. "They would bend our ear over about how Michigan State was their big game, not Ohio State. Of course, they told the Spartans the Ohio State game was the biggie, not MSU," Mack recalled with a cynical chuckle.
Mack was voted an All-Big Ten guard in 1974, his senior season, by The Chicago Tribune. After graduation Mack spent three seasons on the sideline with Woody Hayes after four seasons serving Hayes as a player.
It's not often that a family gets a father-son combo in sustained careers in two different professional sports. Add a Hall-Of-Fame enshrinement, a Top-100 Buckeye of all-time, a sibling rivalry entrenched in the hallowed Michigan-Ohio State rivalry, a snub by Bo Schembechler and a loyalty to Woody Hayes and you've got an All-American story that few families can rival.
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