According to an article dated last February, you can count the number of Jews who play football in the NFL on one hand: thirteen. (Wait. What?) Alright, forget the hand thing, that’s not the point. The point is, it’s great that RON MIX was not only a Jewish football player for eleven years a long time ago — he’s in the pro football Hall of Fame. He’s also in the puzzle today, full name: RON MIX, at 104D. He is still living, at 84.
Mix was 6′ 4″ and weighed 250 when he played, so I’m guessing he didn’t encounter too much anti-Semitism. If anyone did cross him, you could probably say about him what they used to say about a federal agent caught in the woods by bootleggers: “He may get better, but he’ll never get well.”
Mix was an outstanding offensive tackle for the LA Chargers in the old AFL, from 1960 to 1969, after an All-American college career at USC. Get this — in those ten years of pro ball, he was penalized for holding only twice. Football fans will appreciate how amazing that is.
Mix is a mensch, which is hard to say ten times fast. In 1965, the AFL planned for its All Star game to be played in New Orleans, but the Black players organized a boycott. They said they wouldn’t play in a city that denied them basic rights — to eat in restaurants, get cabs, etc. Mix was the first white player to join them, after which others did as well. The game was relocated to Houston.
Ron married Patti Match, and for a time they were known as Mix and Match. No, I made that up. His wife was Patti Lanphier, and Mix wrote a very beautiful article about her for the San Diego Tribune when she passed away last February. They had three children: Carrie, Kathleen, and Charles. This is a story he told about her:
Patti was known for her organizational skills and ability to come up with inventive solutions to problems. This was best displayed when a crisis arose during the preparation of a major fund-raiser. Twenty-five members and board members of this charity had volunteered to set up and decorate tables for an event that would have 2000 people. On the morning of the event, only three volunteers showed up. Patti called the Commander of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, explained the problem, and asked him to send 25 recruits to assist. He did. The recruits remained as her special guests at the dinner.
He concluded by writing: Patti, my darling Patti, I was blessed with your presence for 58 years. I shall attempt to temper the sadness by cherishing the memories, but I know that I shall grieve until I am gone.
The Chargers retired Mix’s number (74) when he retired in 1969. But he unretired and played for Oakland in 1971. The Chargers owner was miffed and “unretired” Mix’s number so it’s in use again. Booo!
His mom must have said: “Go ahead and play that game with the silly hats, but, for me, maybe you can go to law school too?” So Mix earned a law degree during the off-season and maintained a practice after he retired from football. He got involved with some shady deals, however, and ended up pleading guilty to tax fraud. He was disbarred in 2019, and penalized fifteen yards. (Sorry, I made up that last part about the fifteen yards. Hard to resist.)
Here’s a bad joke for you: Three Jewish women are talking. The first says, “I’m so proud of my boy Abie, he’s a doctor.” The second says, “I’m proud my Ronnie too — a lawyer.” The third says, “My Alex is a rabbi.” Aghast, the first two say: “A rabbi!! What kind of job is that for a Jewish boy??”
Here’s a shot of Mix.
And here’s some wine you can use at your next Shabbat dinner. That’s our man on the label.
Actress Gal Gadot, who played Wonder Woman in the movies, is not your typical starlet. At 18 she was crowned Miss Israel, and then served two years as a combat fitness instructor in the Israeli Defense Forces. She was ranked the third-highest-paid actress in the world in 2020, with annual earnings of $31.5 million. In her most recent film, she co-starred with Kenneth Branagh, Tom Bateman, and Annette Bening in Death on the Nile (2022), directed by Branagh. She’s the GAL in the grid today at 90 down.
Gadot, fellow Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter, and U.N. Under-Secretary-General Cristina Gallach appeared at the U.N. in October 2016, the 75th anniversary of the first appearance of Wonder Woman, to mark the character’s designation by the U.N. as its “Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls”. The gesture was intended to raise awareness of UN Sustainable Development Goal No. 5, which seeks to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030. The decision was met with protests from UN staff members who stated that the character is “not culturally encompassing or sensitive” and served to objectify women. As a result, the character was stripped of the designation, and the project ended. (Hrrrrrrrumph.)
Gadot is married to an Israeli real estate developer and they have three little Wonder Women — ages 1, 5, and 11.
Talia Shire, clued by her Godfather role, played Don Corleone’s daughter Connie, and was a beautiful bride (below). I gotta say, though, it strains the credulity to imagine her the victim of domestic abuse, doesn’t it? Don F**king Corleone’s daughter?? How Neanderthalic does that husband have to be? Jeeeesh. In the photo, below, note how Santino has him arm around his dad’s shoulder, and Brando has his hand on his granddaughter’s. Lovely.
Shire was born in Lake Success, NY, in 1946 and is Francis Ford Coppola’s sister and actor Nicolas Cage’s aunt. She received Oscar nominations for her portrayal of Connie in The Godfather, Part 2 (Best Supporting Actress), and for her portrayal of Rocky’s girlfriend Adrian in Rocky (Best Actress).
Probably a coincidence, but 9D today was “Convict, in old slang.” YARDBIRD. And, of course, Jeff Beck, who died this week, started out with The Yardbirds. Here’s a tune from 1966.
The clue at 68D, for NORM, was “Just what you’d expect.” I love when things set our favorite commenter off. Here’s where LMS went today:
“Just what you’d expect” – mediocrity and apathy. It’s everywhere. I get that I’m cynical, but still. Yesterday I found myself roped into going to a women’s excursion where we made pottery coffee mugs. There was a table with stamps to press little sayings on your mug, but they were all so positive and, well, disingenuous. Thankful, Grateful, Blessed, Always be Positive blah blah. I told the person next to me that I was too cynical for these and was there anything snarkier? Something like Surely not everyone was Kung Fu fighting woulda worked, but, oh well. Didn’t matter; I couldn’t separate my mug from the bottle I had molded it around, so I just gave up and left with my friend, hoping that no one noticed the huge clump of misshapen clay at my place that probably screamed I don’t give a &%$# and just want to leave here to take a nap!
At my birthday dinner last night, I ordered a Brooklyn Lager and the waitress said “I had a feeling you would.” I said — “I grew up in Brooklyn.” And she said — “I thought so – my grandmother lives there, and I felt the vibe.” I didn’t take it as an age insult because she was clearly wonderful. The football game was on the TV and it was very loud. So I said — I’m a football fan, but it’s on so loud — can it be turned down a bit? She said she’d try, but then came back and said, her boss says they can just turn it down a tiny bit, but how about moving upstairs? So we did and it was much quieter. Then, out of the blue she came back and said, My boss feels bad about your having to move, so the beers are on us. Isn’t that nice?
Thanks for stopping by — see you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 