| No. 87 | |||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Punter Wide receiver | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born: | (1953-05-07)May 7, 1953 (age 71) Villa Park, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 210 lb (95 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Villa Park (California) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | Harvard | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1975:5th round, 120th pick | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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John Patrick McInally (born May 7, 1953) is an American former professionalfootball player who was apunter andwide receiver for theCincinnati Bengals of theNational Football League (NFL).
McInally was enshrined in theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 2016.[1] McInally was a two-time football AllIvy League first team selection and helped leadHarvard to a share of the 1974 Ivy League title. McInally is the first graduate of Harvard to play in either the NFL Pro Bowl or theSuper Bowl. He did both during the 1981 season.[2]
McInally was born inVilla Park inOrange County, California, and graduated fromVilla Park High School in 1971.
McInally was awide receiver andpunter for theHarvard Crimson football squad from1972 to1974. As a junior in1973, he was second in the nation in receiving, setting a Harvard record of 56 receptions in a single season.
McInally concluded his career as the 1974 New England Player of the Year, also known as the George H. "Bulger" Lowe Award winner, an annual award by the Gridiron Club of Boston.[3] McInally held the Crimson single-game, single-season and career records for touchdowns and receptions at the end of his career. He was also the leader in career receiving yards.
McInally was also the startingpunter.
McInally, acum laude graduate, was named a NFF National Scholar - Athlete and a first teamAll-American as a senior in1974.[4]
As a senior in 1974, he completed his only collegiate pass, a 46-yard pass to Jim Curry, another all-time great Harvard receiver, off a lateral against rivalYale University. The completion set up the go-ahead touchdown inThe Game for Harvard.[5] Harvard, with the21–16 win and a6–1 record, shared the title with Yale.
McInally scored the only verified perfect score among NFL players on theWonderlic Test,[6] an intelligence test developed in the 1930s and given to prospective players by the NFL to judge their aptitude for adapting to certain situations.[7][8][9]
According to McInally, "It really did seem like an easy test at the time. One of the reasons I did so well is because I didn't think it mattered. So I think I didn't feel any pressure at all. It was more of a lark, and that's when you do your best. If I took it 100 times I'd probably never do that again."[10] McInally claims it hurt, rather than enhanced, his position in the draft because "coaches and front-office guys don't like extremes one way or the other, but particularly not on the high side. I think they think guys who are intelligent will challenge authority too much."[6][11] He took the test again in 2007 when Wonderlic hired him to manage its marketing of the exam. When told he missed one correct answer, McInally quipped, "Missed one. Not a bad score after six concussions."[11]
McInally was selected in thefifth round of the1975 NFL draft, but suffered a broken leg while scoring a touchdown in theCollege All-Star Game against thePittsburgh Steelers in earlyAugust,[12] and missed the entire1975 season.[13]
He was the Bengals punter from1976 to1985, and also was a wide receiver during the first half of his career. He led the league in net yards per punt in1977 (36.4) and in punting average in1978 (43.1) and1981 (45.4). His most productive years receiving were in 1977, when he caught 17 passes for 258 yards (a 15.2 average) and three touchdowns, and in1980, when he caught 18 passes for 269 yards (a 14.9 average) and two touchdowns.[14] He also completed three passes in four career attempts for 81 yards.[14]
In1980 Bengals' season finale, which was aBengals–Browns rivalry game,Thom Darden used aforearmtackle to the face of McInally.[15] McInally was unconscious for about 10 minutes and left the field on a stretcher, but he returned in the second half to make threereceptions for 86 yards, including a game-tyingtouchdown.[16] The hit and McInally's recovery are a legendary part of the intrastate rivalry.[17]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Punting | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Punts | Yds | Net Yds | Lng | Avg | Net Avg | Blk | Ins20 | TB | ||
| 1976 | CIN | 14 | 76 | 2,999 | 2,556 | 61 | 39.5 | 33.6 | 0 | 12 | 6 |
| 1977 | CIN | 14 | 67 | 2,802 | 2,475 | 67 | 41.8 | 36.4 | 1 | 16 | 3 |
| 1978 | CIN | 16 | 91 | 3,919 | 3,161 | 65 | 43.1 | 34.7 | 0 | 25 | 10 |
| 1979 | CIN | 16 | 89 | 3,678 | 3,113 | 61 | 41.3 | 34.2 | 2 | 19 | 12 |
| 1980 | CIN | 16 | 83 | 3,390 | 2,674 | 61 | 40.8 | 31.5 | 2 | 21 | 12 |
| 1981 | CIN | 16 | 72 | 3,272 | 2,636 | 62 | 45.4 | 36.1 | 1 | 17 | 11 |
| 1982 | CIN | 9 | 31 | 1,201 | 1,053 | 53 | 38.7 | 34.0 | 0 | 7 | 4 |
| 1983 | CIN | 16 | 67 | 2,804 | 2,314 | 60 | 41.9 | 33.5 | 2 | 13 | 9 |
| 1984 | CIN | 16 | 67 | 2,832 | 2,362 | 61 | 42.3 | 35.3 | 0 | 19 | 8 |
| 1985 | CIN | 16 | 57 | 2,410 | 1,735 | 64 | 42.3 | 29.9 | 1 | 8 | 7 |
| Career | 149 | 700 | 29,307 | 24,079 | 67 | 41.9 | 34.0 | 9 | 157 | 82 | |
| Year | Team | Punting | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Punts | Yds | Net Yds | Lng | Avg | Net Avg | Blk | Ins20 | TB | ||
| 1981 | CIN | 3 | 10 | 401 | 360 | 60 | 40.1 | 36.0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 1982 | CIN | 1 | 2 | 86 | 84 | 45 | 43.0 | 42.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 4 | 12 | 487 | 444 | 60 | 40.6 | 37.0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
McInally married Leslie Bevis (not the actor) in 1984. They have two children.[18][19]
McInally conceived theStarting Lineup series of action figures circa 1985, the final year of his career, and pitched the idea toKenner, a leading producer of toys. Kenner agreed to develop it and the line became a top seller. Kenner was later sold toHasbro. McInally himself was not included in the Starting Lineup line until a 10th-anniversary figure of him was released in 1997.[20]
"SLUs," as collectors call the figures, were discontinued after the2001 Major League Baseball season.The action figures generated $700 million in sales. McInally received royalties in retirement.
In 1986, McInally worked as a color commentator on college football games for one season onESPN with play-by-play announcerMike Patrick. He was replaced on the broadcasts byLee Corso.
McInally founded Good Sports For Life, an organization that, according to McInally, "is dedicated to working with partners to improve youth sports by promoting meaningful participation, improved performance, personal growth, and creating positive experiences for the 37 million kids playing sports today." He writes regular columns on behalf of the organization that appear onNFL.com.[21] For years he wrote a newspaper column nationally syndicated byKing Features, "Pat Answers for Kids." The column, which first ran in theCincinnati Enquirer, eventually appeared in newspapers nationwide including theChicago Tribune and theBoston Globe.[4]
In 2006, the Wonderlic Company named McInally its director of marketing and testing to help student athletes prepare for theSAT.[22]
McInally coached high school football at Brethren Christian High School in Huntington Beach, California, and from 2014 to 2016 his teams posted the highest winning percentage in Orange County, California.[23]
McInally founded the College Sports Connections Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping student-athletes from economically challenged families. The foundation assisted these scholar-athletes with test preparation (ACT/SAT), mentorship, and consulting in the college search process.
McInally is also a children's book collector. In 2009, he was reported to have sold at auction for $115,000 a rare edition ofAlice's Adventures in Wonderland byLewis Carroll, which had been given to the real Alice,Alice Liddell.[24]
