Alfred McCoy (American football)

A native of Brookline, Massachusetts, McCoy attended Newton High School and Dean Academy. As a youth he excelled in football, swimming, and baseball. He was awarded a medal from the Massachusetts Humane Society for saving a girl from drowning in Crystal Lake.[1] He attended the College of Holy Cross for one semester but had to leave due to poor health.[2] He enrolled at Pennsylvania State University in 1921.[1] He was a member of the Penn State team that played in the 1923 Rose Bowl.[3] After the game, McCoy missed his midterms due to a blizzard that trapped him in his wife's home town of Syracuse, New York. He could not afford the $5 an exam fee to retake the test so he dropped out of school and worked on a railroad. McCoy resumed his education after he was recruited to play football at Lafayette College by coach Jock Sutherland.[2]

After graduating from Lafayette College in 1927, McCoy became the coach for all athletics at Hackettstown High School in Hackettstown, New Jersey.[4][3] In 1929 he joined the faculty of Northeastern University as an English professor and head baseball and men's basketball coach.[3] In 1932, with the assistance of engineering school dean Carl Ell and athletic director Putty Parsons, McCoy established a freshman football team at Northeastern. The following year the school began its varsity football program. After a 1-3-1 first season, McCoy would not have a losing season as Northeastern's football coach.[2]

In 1937, McCoy left Northeastern to become the head football coach at Colby College.[5] In 1941, he was hired as backfield coach for the Harvard Crimson football team.[6] In 1947 he became the chief scout for the Boston Yanks of the National Football League.[7] McCoy's final coaching position came as an assistant at the University of Washington.[8]

After his coaching career ended, McCoy moved to La Jolla, California, where he was a successful liquor store owner and a golf writer for the San Diego Tribune.[9][4] In 1982 he was inducted into Northeastern's Hall of Fame.[2] He died on January 31, 1990, in La Jolla. He was 90 years old.[4]