Earsell Mackbee
Date of birth | January 15, 1941 |
---|---|
Place of birth | Brookhaven, Mississippi |
Date of death | November 9, 2009 | (aged 68)
Place of death | Vallejo, California |
Career information | |
Position(s) | Cornerback |
US college | Utah State |
NFL draft | 1965 / Round: |
Career history | |
As player | |
1965–1969 | Minnesota Vikings |
Career highlights and awards | |
Career stats | |
|
Earsell Mackbee (January 15, 1941 – November 9, 2009) was a professional American football player.
Mackbee was born in Brookhaven, Mississippi and served as an airman in the USAF. He graduated from Utah State University, where he starred as a cornerback. He played five seasons in the National Football League, all with the Minnesota Vikings. Mackbee was a starting cornerback on the Vikings’ Purple People Eaters defense and made 15 interceptions in his career.[1] He started in Super Bowl IV, but injured himself when he missed a tackle on Kansas City Chiefs' receiver Otis Taylor.
After retiring from the NFL in 1970, Mackbee became an entrepreneur, opening a chain of restaurants and other business ventures. He also worked as a counselor and advisor for City Inc, a Minneapolis outreach and educational program.[2]
In 2005, Mackbee suffered a stroke and was thereafter in a hospice. On October 16, 2009, his condition deteriorated, and his family rallied to fulfill his last wish of returning him to his roots in Vallejo, California.[3] Ten days after donations allowed his family to charter a plane to fly him back to Vallejo, Mackbee died on November 9, 2009.[4] He is interred at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery.[5]
Notes
- ^ Pro Football-Reference.com
- ^ Earsell Mackbee | Biography Archived 2009-11-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Vallejo Times-Herald | October 26, 2009". Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
- ^ Ex-Viking Mackbee dies 10 days after wish fulfilled[permanent dead link], Star Tribune, November 9, 2009.
- ^ Earsell Mackbee at Find a Grave
External links
- 1941 births
- 2009 deaths
- People from Brookhaven, Mississippi
- Players of American football from Mississippi
- American football cornerbacks
- Utah State Aggies football players
- Minnesota Vikings players
- Burials in Solano County, California
- Sportspeople from Vallejo, California
- American football defensive back, 1940s birth stubs