The following article was published by Leo Roth of the Democrat & Chronicle on Sunday, February 24th and posted to ww.democratandchronicle.com

Ron Mack's cozy den inside his Irondequoit home is a window into a life well lived.

Family photographs and his grandchildren's art work have found rightful wall and shelf space amongst the many plaques, citations and scrapbooks Mack has collected as one of Rochester's great sports figures.

He's a member of the Aquinas Institute, Monroe County and LeMoyne College athletic Halls of Fame. He's won the Rochester District Golf Association senior championship five times. He was a successful basketball coach and teacher at Aquinas until entering the financial services field.

At 77, Ron Mack looks like he can still hit the set shot from 20 feet or turn the double play.

"Yeah, except for two hips," he quips.

His memory makes no concession to age. And as we sit and talk, Mack's mind runs the floor back to Jan. 24, 1953, the night he poured in 44 points against Christian Brothers Academy in front of 2,200 fans at Syracuse's Jefferson Street Armory to establish a new single-game scoring record for Aquinas basketball.

A record that has stood the test of time for 60 years.

"No, I never thought that would last, especially with the 3-point play coming into use and also the shot clock. We never had any of that," Ron Mack says.

Despite the dimly lit conditions common of basketball barns of the day, Ron, a 5-9 guard, nailed 15 set shots, five running one-handers and four free throws to break Joe Culhane's mark of 35 points set in 1945. Aquinas won 77-49.

"What I remember is that I couldn't miss," Mack says, producing a yellowed Democrat and Chronicle clipping. "I had 15 set shots that would be 3-pointers today. When I had the shot and took it, it went it. It was just one of those magical nights."

And it wasn't a fluke. Ron averaged 24.1 points that senior season for coach Lou Basile. He dumped in 36 in a rematch against CBA at Rochester's Edgerton Park Sports Arena, meaning he scored 80 points against that one team that winter on NBA-sized courts.

Mack's single-season mark of 338 points would be broken nine years later by one of his players, Jim Chatterton (356), and it has been passed by others since. But 44 points for one game still stands.

"In those days, the set shot was the shot," Ron says. "You'd have to fake your man to get it off and it took lots of footwork. Al Cervi shot it, Bobby Davies, Bobby Wanzer."

Yes, these were the days when a boy in Rochester wearing a pair of Chuck Taylors had the NBA champion Royals to look up to. Ron learned to shoot on a hoop his dad put up in his backyard.

"I'd pedal my papers at 6 in the morning, then play basketball," he says.

Some of his best memories are from the four years he coached the Little Irish. In 1961, Aquinas played in a Christmas tournament hosted by Linton High School in Schenectady and was beaten 80-63 by Power Memorial of New York City in its first game. But it was a memorable loss to say the least.

Scoring 18 points for Power was a 14-year-old freshman named Lew Alcindor, who would become most famously known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's career scoring leader.

"He was 6-10 and about 150 pounds," Mack says. "He'd play five minutes and rest for three. He blocked some shots and he hurt us with the sky hook."

Also in that tournament were two future NBA Hall of Fame coaches: Pat Riley, a star senior for Linton, and Hubie Brown, an assistant coach for Cranford, N.J. Mack still has a program from the tournament. The cost: 10 cents.

Basketball remains a big part of Ron Mack's life, and he can be found at many high school and college games watching "as a player would and as a coach would."

And every so often, his mind will run the floor, like the summer he worked Bob Cousy's camp and played pick-up with the great Celtic … feeding passes to Aquinas war hero Don Holleder as he muscled up against Tommy Heinsohn in a Rhode Island tournament … practicing with the Royals and becoming friends with legends like Arnie Risen.

And with sunshine comes the rain. Last month, Blair Phillips, 24, Ron and Denise Mack's oldest grandchild, died from complications resulting from a fall he took skiing in Vail, Colo. He was a beloved young man, a gifted musician and architect who grew up in Avon.

When five of Ron Mack's teammates from LeMoyne College attended the memorial service, the power of faith, family and friends hit home. Teammates then. Teammates now.

"The thing about those old days, athletics in general, it's not just sports it's camaraderie and friendship," Ron Mack says. "These are guys from the 1950s and they drove from Syracuse to be there."

Ron Mack's single-game scoring record has stood the test of time. So has so much more.