Colin Baillie, who coached him at the club, stated:[3] He was an extraordinary ball player, great with his hands and he could run all day.
He did what some might have regarded as mediocre jobs, working as a janitor or in a distillery and he never took defeat easily.
[4] Outside rugby Mackie was a local councillor for Nazeing in Essex, England.
[3] His father, John Mackie, was a Labour MP who went into the House of Lords.
[2] His wife Catherine was a journalist, a former political editor of the Glasgow Herald; and adviser to Alistair Darling in the Treasury.