Fridays with Mac: Magical Lyndi Marie

Your grateful scribe to these “Fridays with Mac” anxiously awaited time with “Billy Mac from Hackensack.” Most folks know this feisty fella as Bill McCartney, the only coach to ever lead the Colorado Golden Buffaloes to a national football title. He’s Billy Mac to me. Frick and Frack. Two “Mac’s” who went to Mizzou on football scholarships and WAY out-kicked coverage when it comes to marriages. Two peas in a pod.

While driving toward Mac’s home on the #1 handicap hole of a challenging golf course on Denver’s northwestern edge, my mind was on our respective marriages. Yep. The fabulous ladies who somehow, someway, found love for two knuckleheads forever linked through the glory years of Colorado football. Mac concerning beautiful bride of 50 years, Lyndi Marie, “She was gorgeous and I was goofy!” Sadly, we lost the fabulous female about nine years ago from emphysema. The beloved mother, grandma, sister and friend is sorely missed by hubby and a throng of others.

Back in my “Buff Guy” days for CBS4 Denver, with instructions from station management to get in the “Hip pocket of the CU football team” I was, occasionally, the recipient of McCartney’s wrath. Yep. Including this gem during a live halftime interview of a game the station was broadcasting: “That’s the dumbest question I’ve EVER HEARD!” Today we laugh about that moment. Miffed coach and irritating reporter. Sure. Mac’s 81, battling memory issues but hanging in there. When recalling that boisterous bark, a grin spreads across the coach’s face. These words always follow:?“You’re never gonna forget that are you?” Heck no. It’s ammunition.

Guess what? Let’s get back to the point of all this. Guess who would always reach out to me after one of McCartney’s, let’s just call it a “tongue-lashing.” Who? Lyndi Marie, pretty as can be. The beauty who met the beast while a college student at Stephens College, right next to Mizzou’s campus, in Columbia, Missouri (met some Stephens’ coeds myself) had an extraordinary way of reaching out to others and making them feel special. Without fail, after her fired-up football husband would cajole someone a tad much? The talented writer would always reach out with, “Don’t take It personally.” Lyndi Marie McCartney. HOF human being.

Once inside and visiting, I was telling Mac about how his incredible wife played a role in one of the biggest moments in the history of his sidekick. Let me set the scene. Paris, France. About ten years ago. Darling wife, then sexy girl friend, was on a business trip in the French capitol. I flew over toward the end of her work time for some fun. We’d been dating for almost a decade and many wondered, “When in the heck are you two gonna get married?” Well, considering my shaky history of matrimonial success and the beautiful brunette’s thriving life as a single, yet far from bored, business executive? it really wasn’t a major topic of conversation. Friends? Family? Well, that’s a different story. Pressure.

Once word got out about this ol’ sports guy joining popular girlfriend in Paris, known for love and all that jazz, more than one hinted, “You gotta ask Kathy to marry you in Paris.” Privately? The Chicago-area native would tell me, “Don’t even think about it.”

Well. I did and did. But here’s where the story brings in Lyndi Marie McCartney. At this time, she was quite ill. I proposed to an amazing woman on the front steps of the well-known church, Sacre Coeur. It sits majestically on the highest hill in Paris. Great view. Romantic.

Before the proposal? While touring the beautiful structure, I lit a candle in prayer for Lyndi. I prayed for her well being, for her family and, frankly, asked her to “Wish me luck” for the big moment that lie ahead. I was gonna ask a woman to marry me who had told me explicitly, “Not in Paris.”

I didn’t listen. For some reason, she said yes. Without question, Lyndi Marie is pretty as can be. Coach Mac was beaming. I fired a heartfelt truth his way, “Hey Goofy, your wife is magical too!” #fridayswithmac