Mal Hammack

Mal Hammack

No. 31, 33
Position:	Halfback, fullback, linebacker
Personal information
Date of birth:	(1933-06-19)June 19, 1933
Place of birth:	Roscoe, Texas
Date of death:
Place of death:	Valley Park, Missouri
Height:
Weight:
Career information
High school:	Roscoe (TX)
College:	Arlington State Florida
NFL draft:	1955 / Round: 3 / Pick: 26
Career history
Chicago Cardinals 1955–1959) St. Louis Cardinals (1960–1966)
Career highlights and awards
Second-team All-SEC (1954) University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame
Career NFL statistics
Games played: 128 Rushing attempts: 320 Rushing yards: 1,278 Receptions: 27 Receiving yards: 255 Touchdowns: 8 Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Malcolm Eugene Hammack (June 19, 1933 – July 19, 2004) was an American college and professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve years during the 1950s and 1960s. Hammack played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally for the Chicago and St. Louis Cardinals of the NFL.

Early life

Hammack was born in Roscoe, Texas in 1933. He attended Roscoe High School, where he played for the Roscoe Plowboys high school football team. After graduating from high school, he attended Arlington State Junior College in Arlington, Texas, and played football for the Arlington State Rebels.

Major college career

Hammack accepted an athletic scholarship to transfer to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Bob Woodruff's Florida Gators football team in 1953 and 1954. As a senior in 1954, he was a second-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection and the first recipient of the Gators' Fergie Ferguson Award, recognizing the "senior football player who displays outstanding leadership, character and courage." Woodruff later ranked him as one of the Gators' five best offensive backs of the 1950s.

Hammack returned to Florida to finish his bachelor's degree in 1958, and was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."

Professional career

The Chicago Cardinals selected Hammack in the third round (twenty-sixth pick overall) in the 1955 NFL Draft, and he played his entire twelve-year professional career for the Cardinals, in both Chicago (1955–1959) and St. Louis (1960–1966). Hammack was used primarily as a blocking fullback, but he still had 320 carries for 1,278 yards and seven touchdowns in his career.

See also

• Florida Gators football, 1950–59
• History of the Arizona Cardinals
• List of Florida Gators football players in the NFL
• List of University of Florida alumni

Bibliography

• Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.
• Golenbock, Peter, Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). ISBN 0-9650782-1-3.
• Hairston, Jack, Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told, Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). ISBN 1-58261-514-4.
• McCarthy, Kevin M., Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football, Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). ISBN 978-0-7385-0559-6.
• McEwen, Tom, The Gators: A Story of Florida Football, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974). ISBN 0-87397-025-X.
• Nash, Noel, ed., The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football, Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). ISBN 1-57167-196-X.