GREEN BAY PACKERS WIDE RECEIVER MAX MCGEE JANUARY 23, 1967

Considering what former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Max
McGee remembers about New Orleans from his college days at
Tulane, the Pack should thank its lucky stars that Super Bowl I
was held in Los Angeles and not in the Big Easy, site of
Sunday's game. "All I know is that the bars stayed open all
night," says McGee, who is remembered more today for his
carousing than for his 345 career receptions. As it was, McGee
was still shaking off the residue from hours of partying when he
reached the Los Angeles Coliseum sideline on Jan. 15, 1967. "I
got back to the room about 7:30 to get Paul Hornung up for
breakfast," says McGee, who had fallen into a backup role with
Green Bay and had caught only four passes during the 1966
season, his 11th with the team. "That's why Lombardi kept me
around, to make sure Hornung made breakfast."

Any plans that the 34-year-old McGee had for resting on the
Packers' bench that day were quickly scuttled when starting
split end Boyd Dowler injured a shoulder on Green Bay's second
play. "Max didn't even have his helmet," recalls Hornung. "Hawg
Hanner, our defensive line coach, had to throw him one." Moments
later, McGee scored the first touchdown in Super Bowl history,
on a 37-yard pass from quarterback Bart Starr. McGee finished
with seven catches for 138 yards and two scores as Green Bay
dumped Kansas City 35-10.

McGee retired after the Packers' win in Super Bowl II and went
on to make millions in real estate and as a cofounder of the
Chi-Chi's Mexican-food restaurant chain. Recently he raised
almost $1 million for his charity, The Max McGee Fund, to fight
juvenile diabetes, which struck his seven-year-old son, Dallas.
In 1979 McGee was hired by the Packers' flagship radio station,
WTMJ-AM, and his off-the-wall color commentary has made him a
fan favorite. "I'm not a technical guy," says McGee. "I just say
things off the top of my head." Take the time in October when
WTMJ play-by-play man Jim Irwin noted during a Green Bay game
against Tampa Bay that a Bucs trainer had cut the tip off one of
wide receiver Alvin Harper's fingers while treating Harper for a
hand injury. McGee's analysis: "Thank god it wasn't a groin
injury."

On Sunday, McGee fulfilled his broadcasting goal of working a
Super Bowl. The setting was fitting. "I'd been telling people
I'd be out all night in New Orleans before the game and see if I
could broadcast without sleep," says McGee. "In truth, I was in
bed by 10 p.m."

--Richard Deutsch

COLOR PHOTO: WALTER IOOSS JR. [Max McGee on SPORTS ILLUSTRATED cover January 23, 1967]