Darrell L Mack passed away peacefully in Hospice care at Brookdale Manor in Salina Kansas on the afternoon of January 5th, 2024 at the age of 91.
Darrell Lanieve Mack III was born in Tower Hill Illinois on July 26, 1932. He was the oldest of three children of Darrell Lanieve Mack II and Selena Funderburk Mack. He graduated from High School in Nokomis Illinois in 1948. His first two years of college were spent at Eastern Ill College and completed at the University of Missouri in 1952 with a bachelor of Journalism degree.
After fulfilling his two year obligation in the army, he started his journalism career that spanned six decades. Darrell worked briefly for the Kansas City Star on the sports desk before being hired by United Press International (UPI).
While at UPI he worked in Dallas and Edinburg TX, Little Rock AR before being promoted to bureau chief who was responsible for covering Houston, the Texas Gulf Coast, and most of south Texas. His time in Texas brought him many great adventures. He drove into the eye of several major hurricanes long before the weather channel was born. He covered the story of a convict that was recently released from the Huntsville maximum security prison which was later turned in the setting for the movie “Sugarland Express”. His first love was always covering sports and Houston provided a plethora of that. Houston had several major sports teams, including the Astros, Oilers, Aeros, Mavericks and Rockets. The colleges included the University of Houston, Rice University, Texas A&M, Texas Southern University and others.
He covered NASCAR at Texas World Speedway in College Station, the tennis “battle of the sexes” between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, Cassius Clay changing into Muhammad Ali and becoming a conscientious objector. He covered one MLB all-star game and three super bowls. Darrell was fortunate to interview many of America’s greatest athletes from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s.
He also interviewed people like Dr Henry Kissinger and the first President George Bush, Evil Kinevel and all of the Apollo Astronauts, as he covered the space missions for ten years. He also enjoyed covering the Olympics in Mexico City in 1968 and Munich Germany in 1972.
In 1974 he moved on to other challenges and became Executive Editor of the Beaumont Texas Enterprise (morning paper) and the Joural (the evening paper). He stayed there for several years working tirelessly for Civil Rights.
He and his family moved on to Jacksonville Florida to work as an editor of the Times Union. He later worked at papers in Fort Worth, New Jersey, Dallas and Houston. Starting in 1992 he worked at the Commercial Appeal in Memphis where he eventually retired.
In 1958 Darrell married Shirley Swanson Mack in Edinburg Texas. To this union three children were born: Darrell Lanieve (Lannie) Mack IV, Randy Allen Mack and Lisa Rae Mack. They later divorced. In 1981 Darrell married Katherine Jones Mack.
Darrell was preceded in death by his wife Katherine, his brother Lonny and sister Janie, both his parents, his son Randy and daughter Lisa, as well as a grandson Joshua.
He is survived by his son Lannie, his daughter-in-law Irene, two grand daughters, Jennifer and Stephanie, four grandsons, Ben, Justus, Samuel and Stephen and six great grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at 2:00 P.M., February 18, 2024 at St. Marys Cathedral in Memphis TN.
In lieu of flowers, memorials designated to St Jude's Children’s Hospital.
Arrangements are by Affordable Cremations Plus, Wichita, Ks.