Newtown Square's Mike Mayock Turns a Passion Into a Highly Successful Career

The passion began as a 10-year-old holding a clipboard for his father, calling out plays and formations up in the stands of football games. Through time, it led to reporting on high school games on rainy Friday nights and early Saturday mornings, working sidelines for college and then Canadian Football League games. The passion evolved into a career, a highly successful career with its foundation at the grass-roots level of football.

Today, you can find Newtown Square’s Mike Mayock, 52, sitting behind a desk for the NFL Network and as the color analyst for NBC’s telecasts of Notre Dame games. This past January, Mayock called his first NFL playoff game as the color commentator for NBC’s coverage of the Seattle Seahawks upset over the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.

Mayock, a Haverford School graduate who went on to play for Boston College, was a 10th-round draft pick for the Pittsburgh Steelers and played safety for the New York Giants, appreciates the path he took to reach these career heights. No one handed him anything. No one greased the skids of his ascension as recently retired big-name pros and former coaches often receive.

“No, you can say I put some time in,” said Mayock, just before he embarked on his most arduous time of the year, preparing to cover the NFL Combine for the NFL Network and collecting data and researching for the NFL Network’s March 7 debut for its Path to the Draft show.

“My drive to be in this position was always about my passion for the game of football," said Mayock. "It’s always been about how much I loved the game. I’m the son of a football coach–all five boys in my family played the game. It’s what we grew up with, and it’s why the most important thing for is not to disrespect the game. It’s not about punching a clock. It’s about paying respect to the game that I love so much.”

It’s just that the journey to display that passion wasn’t exactly an easy one. Mayock used to do Ridley High School games on Friday nights and West Chester Henderson games on Saturdays for local radio, which led to a job as a sideline reporter for Princeton and Rutgers games for the New Jersey Network then as an ESPN sideline reporter covering bowl games, lower-level college games and CFL coverage.

Mayock did all of this while raising two children, his daughter and son, and juggling a full-time job in commercial real estate. He managed that prior to being one of the first full-time hires by the NFL Network for its launch on Nov. 4, 2003.

“In all honesty, I appreciate it all of the time where I was and where I am now,” Mayock said. “This time of the year is always kind of crazy for me with all the East-West games being played, and all the college pro days, the NFL Combine. I think all this travel is killing me, and then I step back and think, 'What are you kidding me?’ It gives me time to realize how blessed and unbelievable this all is. It’s why I make sure I don’t ever complain about anything. My father and my family created this passion I have for football.”

Next week, Mayock will be in Indianapolis, reporting live from the Lucas Oil Stadium on the NFL Network Monday through Friday from the NFL Combine. In three of the next six weeks, he’ll be shuttling back and forth from Newtown Square to Los Angeles, where the NFL Network is based. But he’ll always consider Newtown Square and Delaware County home.

“It’s been the home to me and my children for the last 15 years. It’s where I raised my children and, to me, this is home,” Mayock said. “It’s been great for everyone. My brothers and sisters are here and what makes this area special to me is the combination of people and geographically. Delaware County people are down to earth; they’re real people. Geographically, I love the location–able to get to the airport and it’s a quality way of life.”

Sometime next week, Mayock will be commenting on a future NFL star, and somewhere back in this area, another Mike Mayock, Mike’s father, will be watching with a big grin on his face.

The eager kid that once waited for him to come home in the wee hours of the morning to break down game film and who used to call out down-and-distance with a clipboard in his tiny hands has turned his passion into a career–a highly succesful career.