SPORTS HALL OF FAME
Majkowski, McNally among 13 selected to Buffalo Hall of Fame
By Dave Briggs -- News Sports Reporter
Updated: 06/11/08 11:06 AM
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- Depew graduate and Pro Bowl QB Don Majkowski lost his Green Bay job to Brett Favre.
Don Majkowski and Jim McNally found plenty of success away from these parts.
The “Majik Man” became a Pro Bowl quarterback for the Green Bay Packers in 1989 before later famously losing his job to Brett Favre. And McNally spent more than 15 years as the Cincinnati Bengals’ offensive line guru, tutoring a front anchored by Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz.
Yet there is no city more than Buffalo they would rather call home. And it’s why the pair was so honored Tuesday to be announced as two of this year’s inductees into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.
“This is just an awesome award,” said McNally, who grew up in Kenmore, played at the University at Buffalo and just retired as a line coach for the Bills. “There’s no city I’d rather be associated with.”
McNally and Majkowski were two of the 13 members in a class that underscored Western New York’s football tradition. Daryl Johnston, who starred at Lewiston-Porter before winning three Super Bowls as the Dallas Cowboys’ fullback, and Butch Byrd, an all-AFL defensive back for the Bills in the 1960s, will also be part of the enshrinement in October.
All made clear their pride in the city that witnessed some of their greatest sports moments.
Majkowski, a four-sport star at Depew High School, works now as a real estate agent in Atlanta. But he still remains in close touch with his childhood friends and coaches.
“It’s weird. The guys I grew up with in Buffalo, I’m a lot closer to them than my professional friends,” Majkowski said. “This award is extra special.”
Perhaps giddy to be back, Majkowski even openly discussed the topic he’s long tried to ignore: the trivia card nature of his career.
The story is well-documented. Often compared to Wally Pipp, the New York Yankee who forever lost his job to Lou Gehrig, Majkowski endured a similar scenario in 1992.
The quarterback, who just a couple years earlier appeared on his way to a storied Green Bay career, tore an ankle ligament in the season’s fourth game. Favre took over. And the rest? Well, Majkowski doesn’t want to talk about it. At least he didn’t used to.
“The farther you get away from the game, you can be a little lighthearted about it,” Majkowski said.
In fact, he and Favre remain “good friends,” and the two have come to discuss their odd place together in history.
“We kid about it,” Majkowski said. “I was in my sixth year, and he was green and so raw. If you would have guessed he would play the next 17 years . . .”
Fortunately for Majkowski, he knows that will not define his legacy in Depew.
Also chosen were Cindy Breski (Tonawanda softball coach), Ray Hall (Canisius basketball star), Jeff Manto (longtime Bison), Pat Monti (LaSalle basketball coach), Hank Nichols (basketball official), Joe Shifflet (Sweet Home coach) and and the late Fred Hunt, who helped bring the NHL to Buffalo. Amateur tennis player Jack Sunderland and Kenmore West football coach Jules Yakapovich will be enshrined in the Pride of WNY category initiated last year to honor Buffalo- area sports immortals posthumously.
