John McKay
COACH JOHN McKAY; Legendary football coach John McKay, who won four national championships at USC before becoming the first head coach of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, died of kidney failure due to complications from diabetes on Sunday (June 10) morning at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Fla. He was 77.
A memorial service in Tampa will be private. McKay’s widow, Corky, is presently undergoing medical treatment for a previous illness, and therefore, a visitation with the family will be scheduled at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the McKay family asks that contributions to the John H. McKay Scholarship Fund be made out to the “USC Athletic Department” and sent to USC senior associate athletic director Don Winston, USC Athletic Department, Heritage Hall 203A, Los Angeles, Calif. 90089-0602. For information regarding recognition on the “Friends of John McKay Wall” at USC’s Heritage Hall, contact (213) 740-4155.
McKay still has more victories than any other USC football coach as he posted a 127-40-8 (.749) record during his 16 years (1960-75). He won national crowns in 1962, 1967, 1972 and 1974 and also captured 9 conference titles. He led Troy to 3 undefeated seasons and 9 bowl games, including 5 Rose Bowl victories in 8 appearances. He coached 2 Heisman Trophy winners (Mike Garrett and O.J. Simpson) and 40 Trojans were named All-American first teamers during his tenure. He was national Coach of the Year in 1962 and 1972. He became only the third coach to win 4 national championships (joining Notre Dame’s Frank Leahy and Alabama’s Bear Bryant) and is the only coach to take a team to 4 successive Rose Bowls. His teams, which finished in the Top 10 in the polls 9 times, lost only 17 conference games and, from 1971 to 1975, compiled a league-record 28-game unbeaten streak. His record in the Coliseum was 71-19-6. Besides being known for his success on the field and his dry wit and outspokenness off of it, McKay is regarded as an innovator in college football, as he designed the I-formation offense.
During his last 4 seasons at USC (1972-75), he also served as the school’s athletic director.
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988 and into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1991. He also was a member of the 1994 inaugural class of USC’s Athletic Hall of Fame. He resigned as USC’s coach after the 1975 season to become the head coach of the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting in 1976. Although McKay’s Bucs lost their first 26 games, they then emerged as contenders. Tampa Bay made the NFL playoffs three times under McKay, including advancing to the 1979 NFC championship game to become the first expansion club to reach a conference title game within its first four seasons. McKay retired in 1984 at the conclusion of his ninth season in Tampa Bay with a 44-88-1 record. McKay came to USC in 1959 as an assistant coach under Don Clark after serving as an assistant at Oregon, his alma mater, the previous 9 seasons (1950-58) under Jim Aiken and then Len Casanova.
McKay is survived by his wife, Corky (the former Nancy Hunter), sons J.K. and Rich, and daughters Michele Breese and Terri Florio, plus 10 grandchildren. J.K. was the general manager of the now-defunct XFL’s Los Angeles Xtreme after starting at split end for his father’s Trojans in 1973 and 1974, while Rich is the general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.