Macek Shuts the Book on Air Coryell

Three players have left the Chargers in the past couple of weeks, two of them amid swirling and bitter controversy and the other with quiet dignity and good humor.

Two of them spent their Charger careers in headlines, and the other drew about as much attention as the equipment manager.

Two of them were paid much for not much, and the other contributed much for not much, at least relatively speaking.

One of them was running back Gary Anderson, traded to Tampa Bay. Anderson will be best remembered for one glorious dive into the end zone against Miami in 1986. Good riddance.

One of them was quarterback Jim McMahon, outright released. He will be remembered for an inglorious blowing of his nose in 1989. Indeed, it can been debated whether losing McMahon was better for San Diego than gaining America’s Cup. Good riddance.

The third was center Don Macek, who retired Friday. He will be remembered for . . .

Well?

Centers are remembered only, or at least mainly, by their coaches, teammates and families. By temperament, this is usually the way they prefer it.

“The center position,” Macek said, “has been good to me. It’s a tough position, but a good position. It’s something not a lot of guys can do.”

Macek did it and did it well. That should be remembered.

At a press conference to announce his retirement Friday, he probably had more to say than in all of his 14 years with the Chargers. That’s the way it is with centers. They never become media darlings . . . or media targets, for that matter.

You know where Macek is coming from when he talks of his mother and father and brother and sister.

“They’ve all said I’ve made them proud,” he said. “It doesn’t get much better than that.”

Maybe centers understand the intangibles so much better because there are no tangibles. A center cannot point to rushing yardage or pass receptions or touchdown passes, though he should. Centers have a major role in making them all happen.

Don Macek, for sure, was the center for those championship teams of 1979, 1980 and 1981. It might be more than a coincidence that he was switched from guard to center in 1979. Remember that .

Consider also that Macek might be the best center never to have participated in a Pro Bowl. It certainly was not because he didn’t deserve it. Those were Charger teams with so many offensive stars that there were not enough berths to go around. Those were years, in fact, when the AFC could have sent the entire Charger offense to the Pro Bowl . . . and won.

Those years and those teams were certainly memorable.

“Everyone asks about highlights,” Macek said, “and that’s an easy question to answer. Being part of the Air Coryell unit.”

Pause briefly here to note that Macek used the expression “being part of the unit.” Reflected glory was just fine with him.

“We played football with a style and flair like nobody had ever done before and I don’t believe anyone will do again,” he said. “It was exciting what it did to the town. It made the town come alive. There was a buzz in the air throughout those times I haven’t felt since, except maybe during the World Series.”

Being a center, Macek went through those years upside down and backwards.

“Hey,” he said, “that was fun. You snap the ball, block for two or three seconds and then walk 20 or 30 yards down field. That was the way it was in those years.”

Goals?

Sure, Macek had goals . . . exactly the kind of goals you’d expect of the guy.

“My main goal was to be the best player I could be,” he said, “and another goal was to play long enough for my kids to appreciate what I did.”

Being good enough to play 14 years took care of both, though 16-month-old daughter Jenna might have to appreciate through videotape. Son Scott, 8, and daughter Lindsay, 6, are old enough to have found their father in the middle of the fray.

“My son wants to play for the Chargers,” Macek said, “and he wants to wear No. 62.” That, of course, was Macek’s number. “But he wants to be a wide receiver.”

Obviously, the kid has been watching films of Air Coryell. Had to be. He was born the week Air Coryell bombed Oakland, 55-21, in 1981.

All of Macek’s kids should know that their father was the last active member of the Air Coryell “unit” to leave the Chargers. They should know only Dan Fouts and Russ Washington played more years for this team.

And anyone with a sense of the history of this franchise should know Jim McMahon and Gary Anderson were mere footnotes.

Don Macek was a book. A good book.