Former NFL Star Faces Serious Drug Charges Once Again

Source: The Chicago Tribune

Edited by: Victor Trammell, BlackBlueDog.com

Mack Herron, former NFL running back and member of the New England Patriots during the 1970s, is accused again of felony drug possession. Herron was arrested las week on the West Side of Chicago, according to police.

A judge on Thursday set bail at $25,000 for Herron, 65, on a charge of possession of a controlled substance, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office. Herron is expected to appear in court again on April 4.

Ted Golliday, 49, of Bellwood, Illinois is also charged with possession of a controlled substance in the same incident and bail for him was set at $20,000, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s office.

A police report for this incident stated that on Wednesday around 10:30 AM,  Herron was driving a tan 2003 Chevrolet Impala when a police officer saw the car stop near the 1400 block of South Central Park Avenue. Then Golliday, the front seat passenger, got out of the vehicle.

Golliday engaged in a brief conversation with a man on the street who was in his 20s and wearing a red hat, a black jacket and tan pants, Golliday  then gave money to the man in exchange for “small objects,’’ which Golliday put into his front pants pocket, the report said.

After Golliday got back into the Impala, Herron drove southbound. The officer believed the actions he saw were a narcotics transaction, so he radioed the information in to other officers and the Impala was pulled over in the 3500 block of West 15th Street, according to the report.

When police asked Herron to get out of the car, he was seen dropping a clear plastic baggie containing a white powdery substance police believed was heroin, police said. Herron and Golliday were taken into custody, the report said.

Herron was arrested in May of 2011, also for drug charges, authorities said.

Chicago police saw Herron, who was 62 at that time, at the back door of an abandoned building in the 1600 block of South Drake Avenue in the North Lawndale neighborhood about 3 p.m. on May, 6, 2011, according to a police report.

As the officers approached, Herron, whose address at that time was in the 1800 block of South Hamlin Avenue, dropped a tinfoil packet holding 0.20 of a gram of heroin, police said.

A former football star at Farragut High School, Herron was an explosive multi-purpose offensive player for the Patriots, standing just over 5-feet-5-inches tall. In 1974, he set a National Football League record with 2,444 all-purpose yards, beating a 1966 record held by Chicago Bears legend Gale Sayers, according to football reference websites.

Prosecutors said that Herron has been arrested dozens of times since he left football and has at least seven felony convictions.