Ronald Jack Mix (born March 10, 1938) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was an offensive tackle. He is a member of the American Football League All-Time Team, and was inducted into the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional football (gridiron), professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, 1963, the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of profes ...

in 1979. Mix played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

, where he was named to the All American team. He played at right tackle and guard for the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

of the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

(AFL) and also played for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). While playing in Oakland for the Raiders he was a part of the only offensive line in NFL history to be composed entirely all Hall of Famers. Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, Jim Otto, Ron Mix, and Bob Brown from left to right. An eight-time AFL All-Star (1961–1968) and a nine-time All-AFL (1960–1968) selection, he is also a member of the Los Angeles Chargers Hall of Fame.

Early and personal life

Mix was born in Los Angeles, California, grew up in its Boyle Heights neighborhood, and is Jewish.Ron Mix Stats Pro-Football-Reference.com
/ref>Jewish Sports Stars (2nd Revised Edition): Athletic Heroes Past and Present – David J. Goldman – Google Books
/ref> He attended Hawthorne High School in

Hawthorne, California Hawthorne is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. It is part of a seventeen-city subregion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area commonly known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay. As of the 2020 United States cens ...

. Mix, who was listed at 6' 5" and 270 pounds, was an early proponent of weightlifting to enhance athletic power. He was years ahead of the curve that soon saw lineman and other football players taking up that practice to become better athletes. His lifts included a military press of 300 pounds, a

clean and jerk The clean and jerk is a composite of two weightlifting movements, most often performed with a barbell: the clean and the jerk. During the ''clean'', the lifter moves the barbell from the floor to a racked position across the deltoids, without rest ...

of 325 pounds, and a

bench press The bench press or chest press is a weight training exercise where a person presses a weight upwards while lying horizontally on a weight training bench. The bench press is a Compound movements, compound movement, with the primary muscles involved ...

of 425 pounds, all of the lifts considered to be exceptionally strong for that era of play. Mix went to the University of San Diego Law School in the off-season and earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree in 1971.The Long Trial of Ron Mix San Diego Reader
/ref> He was nicknamed "The Intellectual Assassin" for his combination of intellectual excellence with his style of physical play.

College career

Mix attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC) on a football scholarship. There in 1959 he was a First Team All American, AP First Team All-Pacific Coast, First Team All Big Five, and won the USC Lineman Award. He was a member of the

Delta Chi Delta Chi () is an international collegiate social fraternity. It was formed in 1890 at Cornell University as a professional fraternity for law students, becoming a social fraternity in 1922. In 1929. Delta Chi became one of the first internat ...

fraternity. At USC he minored in English. During his career Mix wrote a number of articles for ''Sports Illustrated''. He was elected the National Jewish College Athlete of the Year.

Professional career

left, 150px, Mix football card issued in 1961 Mix was selected in the first round by two teams in 1960. The Baltimore Colts picked him as the tenth pick in 1960 on November 30 in the

. He was drafted by the Boston Patriots in the first round of the

draft, but the rights to Mix were traded to the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC W ...

, who felt they had a worthy chance at getting the local player to sign with them. Baltimore offered him an $8,000 salary and a $1,000 signing bonus while Los Angeles offered $12,000 and a $5,000 bonus. Mix said he would've signed with Baltimore if they countered with a deal of $10,000 salary and $2,000 bonus. The Colts, telling him the league would flop in a year, declined, and Mix elected to sign with Los Angeles. He was a factor in the Chargers' early domination of the AFL's Western Division, and in San Diego helped them win an American Football League Championship in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

, when they defeated the Boston Patriots 51–10 in the championship game. Mix was called for a mere two holding penalties in ten years. His coach in

Sid Gillman Sidney Gillman (October 26, 1911 – January 3, 2003) was an American football player, coach and executive. Gillman's insistence on stretching the football field by throwing deep downfield passes, instead of short passes to running backs or wid ...

once called him "the best offensive lineman I’ve ever seen." Mix was the first white player in the 1965 AFL All-Star game in New Orleans to step forward and join his black teammates in a

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

boycott. The racist environment of New Orleans caused the black players to say they weren't playing in a city that denied them the most basic rights (to eat, to get a cab, etc.). He made it clear that if the black players were not going to play, neither would he. That caused other white players to join the boycott. The game was then moved to Houston. He was elected to the AFL All-Star team for eight straight years as a Charger, was a nine-time All-AFL selection, is a member of the All-time All-AFL Team, and is one of only 20 men who played the entire 10 years of the AFL. He was the first Charger to have his number retired in 1969 after he announced he was quitting football after playing injured that season. He earned a J.D. degree from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1970. Mix told the Chargers he wanted to play again, but they had found a replacement in Gene Ferguson. After he asked to be traded to the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

, San Diego dealt him to the

for two high draft picks in 1970 and 1971. The deal was contingent upon Mix unretiring and agreeing to play for Oakland; he played with the Raiders in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. Chargers owner Eugene V. Klein, who hated the Raiders, unretired Mix's number 74. Mix was also the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the WFL Portland Storm in 1974.

Halls of fame

In 1969 Mix was unanimously voted to the All-Time AFL Team by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and named to the Chargers Hall of Fame in 1978. He was voted to the

in 1979. Mix was also elected a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1990, inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2008, and inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Northern California in 2010. He was the second player from the AFL to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Lance Alworth was the first in 1978.

After football

Mix practiced law in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

with his business focused on representing retired professional athletes in claims for

workers' compensation Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...

benefits. Prior to that, he was a civil litigator. In 2016, the IRS accused Mix of filing a false tax return. Federal prosecutors said Mix got referrals for clients from a non-lawyer, a former professional basketball player client of his named Kermit Washington and that Mix made contributions to two charitable foundations run by Washington that supported a school and other causes in Africa. Mix took tax deductions for the contributions. Court records alleged that Washington diverted most of money donated to his charities for his own personal use. Mix pled guilty to one count of filing a false tax return. The plea agreement specifically said that Mix believed the charity was legitimate and did not know the funds were being diverted. Nonetheless, claiming the charitable contributions were wrong because Mix got something of value—the referrals. US District Judge Greg Kays imposed a time-served sentence (less than probation). On February 24, 2019, Mix was permanently disbarred.http://members.calbar.ca.gov/courtDocs/16-C-13639-3.pdf

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mix, Ron 1938 births Living people People from Boyle Heights, Los Angeles Players of American football from Los Angeles Jewish American players of American football American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles USC Trojans football players Los Angeles Chargers players San Diego Chargers players Oakland Raiders players American Football League players American Football League All-Star players American Football League All-Time Team Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees United States Football League announcers Lawyers from San Diego Disbarred California lawyers American people convicted of tax crimes 21st-century American lawyers American sportspeople convicted of crimes American lawyers University of San Diego School of Law alumni Portland Thunder (WFL) 21st-century American Jews Hawthorne High School (California) alumni Jews from California Delta Chi members