BRIAN SNELGROVE
Special to argonauts.ca
While he may have been an actor off the field, former Toronto Argonaut linebacker Gene Mack (1971-75) was all business on the field.
“I think that Gene Mack was as good a linebacker that ever played in the CFL,’ says former Argo Head Coach Leo Cahill, who coached Mack in the 70’s.”He reminds me of Lawrence Taylor of the New York Giants. He had great ability to rush the passer, was extremely strong and extremely quick. He was in the backfield before you knew it. The guys who played with him would all agree that he was a great linebacker.”
The Argos will host Retro Night when they take on the Montreal Alouettes at Rogers Centre on August 14. The Boatmen will turn back the clock to celebrate the decade with retro music, retro uniforms and much more.
For tickets, please call 416.341.ARGO (2746) or CLICK HERE to
purchase online.
After his football days Mack became a well-known actor as he appeared in hundreds of television movies, award winning commercials, plays and feature films. Mack worked at CTV Television behind the scenes and ventured in front of the cameras in the early 80’s. Now 61, he has appeared in many well-known films including The Santa Clause with Tim Allen, Land of the Dead with Meg Ryan, Good Fences with Whoopi Goldberg and even played a thug in the first Police Academy movie. He played Idi Amin in the award-winning play “A Play of Giants” and has appeared on dozens of television shows including The Hitchhiker, E.N.G. and Night Heat.
“I took radio and television at university and we did a lot of summer stock,” says the gregarious Mack. “I did some acting in plays in small communities throughout Texas. I really enjoyed it.”
“Football was a passion for me but I went to El Paso to play basketball,” Mack says. “They had won the national championship the year before. But I couldn’t make the team so I tried out for football.” Mack made that team and was on the squad that beat Archie Manning and The University of Mississippi in the 1967 Sun Bowl.
Following his graduation from UTEP Mack was recruited by Argo head coach Leo Cahill. “I remember the first time I went to Toronto, it was February and there was three feet of snow on the ground, “Mack recalls. “I was from Texas and had this old leather coat, like a sports jacket on. But they put me up at the Royal York Hotel and everybody was so nice, I decided to stay. I’ll stay for a year I thought and ended up signing four more one-year contracts.”
During his five year career with the Argos, Mack got to the Grey Cup only once – in 1971 when the Argos lost 14-11 to the Calgary Stampeders. ”We should have won that game hands down,” he says. “We pushed them around like they weren’t even in the game. It was like if you let a bad fighter, a journeyman, stick around he will beat you. That’s what happened. We let them stick around. We had better players but they stayed in the game.”
“They won the game and that’s what really annoyed me,” says Mack. “I was so disappointed I stayed in my uniform after the game. I was walking off the field down this tunnel; this guy in a bread truck drove through under the bleachers and offered me a ride. Still in my uniform I took it and he dropped me off at my hotel.”
Mack was the recipient of a punch from Stampeders receiver Rudy Linterman that led to Linterman’s ejection in the fourth quarter of that 1971 game. “Somebody hit him late. He thought it was me but it wasn’t me,” says Mack with a laugh. “It wasn’t me who hit him; I was just standing beside him when he got up. I thought he was swinging at another guy but he hit me.”
Mack left Toronto for Minnesota after the ’75 season but returned to the CFL and finished up his career with the Hamilton Tiger Cats in 1977.
“There were a lot of tough guys I played against,” says Mack who was a two-time Eastern all-star. “Garney Henley, boy he was a competitor, he gave it all he had. Peter Dalla Riva, he was exciting and a perfect gentleman. Jim Young. Young clipped me under the chin once with this plastic shield on his forearm. Angelo Mosca, Mark Kosmos, Steve Smear, Carl Crennel. Johnny Rodgers was tough. Man he was tough. He gave as good as he got. But the best player I played with or against was Marv Luster. ‘Stickman’. He was the man. Before we got Sam Cvijanovich at middle linebacker, it was a revolving door. ‘Stickman’ even played middle linebacker for five or six games. We didn’t miss a beat. I have more respect for Marv Luster than anybody I ever played with or against.”
Mack still lives in Toronto and in addition to his acting career, makes time to follow the fortunes of the Argos on TV and radio. He has been heavily involved in community charity and volunteer work since his retirement from the Double Blue and was a frequent speaker on the banquet circuit for many years. He serves on a number of community boards and has been both a juvenile assessment officer and volunteer at a halfway house. “I am always trying to help,” says the former Argo great. “I am especially interested in kids programs. You can’t help them all but if you can help one, he may help millions.”
“It was the most enjoyable team that any professional athlete could ever have played for,” says Mack of his time with the Argos. “It was first class all the way. I would have played for free; they wouldn’t have had to give me a nickel.”