Mae Louise Allen: How did Willie Mays’ wife die?

Mae Louise Allen was the wife of Willie Mays. Mae Louise Allen’s husband is a huge name in major league Baseball. Nicknamed “the Say Hey Kid” and “Buck”, the former center fielder is regarded as one of the greatest Baseball players ever ranked as the second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-time lists, including those of The Sporting News and ESPN. Aside from his achievements on the field, he was also a family man. Who is Willie Mays’ wife?

Mae Louise Allen: Bio Summary

How old was Willie Mays’ wife?

Mae Louise Allen was born on May 26, 1938, and grew up in Pittsburgh’s racially segregated Homewood neighborhood, where she excelled as a sprinter according to a Willie Mays biographer Jim Hirsch. Mae was not only gorgeous, smart, and charming, but she was also always modest and elegant. She studied sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, where she was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Mae continued her education at Howard University, where she earned a master’s degree in social work.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Mae Louise Allen worked in child welfare and eventually became a “pioneer in getting single adoptions started in San Francisco.” Unfortunately, she passed away on April 19 2013 at the age of 74. What was the cause of her death? Keep reading to find out more.

Mae Louise Allen was the second wife of Willie Mays

Before Mae Louise, Mays was married to his first wife Margherite Wendell Chapman. After some years of marriage, the former couples called their marriage a quit and went their separate ways. Mae and Willie tied the knot in November of 1971, but their relationship actually dated back ten years earlier. How did Willie Mays and his wife meet?

ALSO, READ; Margherite Wendell Chapman: Is Willie Mays’ first wife still alive?

Per sources, the couple’s formal introduction came as a result of Willie’s most productive day in baseball, a four-homer performance at Milwaukee on April 30, 1961. Ed Sullivan, according to Mays, flew him to New York to appear on his popular Sunday night television show. Mays then went to Small’s Paradise, a Harlem nightclub owned by Wilt Chamberlain at the time. The basketball legend suggested that Mays and Mae meet and gave him her phone number.

The next day, as Mays related in his autobiography, he made the call and she answered the phone and assumed the caller claiming to be Willie Mays was a prankster.  When the caller assured her that he was Willie Mays, Mae Louise Allen responded, “Yes, and I am Martha Washington.” The two hit it off after she realized she was talking to the man himself and they dated off and on for the next several years before they got married in 1971 and stayed married until her death in 2013.

They were married for more than 4 decades before passed away. The couple did not have any children but Mays had an adopted son Michael Mays with his ex-wife Margherite Wendell Chapman.

ALSO, READ; Michael Mays: Where is Willie Mays’ son now?

What happened to Willie Mays’ wife, How did she die?

 Late in life, Willie Ways’ wife Mae Louise Allen waged a 16-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.  She remained in their family home and Mays cared for her devotedly until she died. Mays family attorney Malcolm Heinicke stated, “Mae died peacefully and without pain… Mae was a beautiful person, and although her illness took some of her memories late in life, Mae passed with full knowledge that Willie loved her dearly.“

Mays told blind sportswriter Ed Lucas a “few years ago” that he had gone blind. However, on the occasion of his 90th birthday in 2021, James S. Hirsch wrote in The New York Times that his vision was only “compromised” by glaucoma and that he could still watch games on television with difficulty. As of 2023, Willie Mays is 92 years old.