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Pat McInally

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Pat McInally
No. 87
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 / round: 5 / pick: 120
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Receptions:57
Receiving yards:808
Receiving TDs:5
Punts:700
Punting yards:29,307
Average:41.9
Stats at Pro Football Reference
College Football Hall of Fame

John Patrick McInally (born May 7, 1953) is an American former professional football player who was a punter and wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL).

McInally was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2016.[1] McInally was a two-time football All Ivy League first team selection and helped lead Harvard 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 the Super Bowl. He did both during the 1981 season.[2]

Early life

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Born in Villa Park in Orange County, California, McInally graduated from Villa Park High School in 1971.

College career

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McInally was a wide receiver and punter for the Harvard Crimson football squad from 1972 to 1974. As a junior in 1973, 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 starting punter.

McInally, a cum laude graduate, was named a NFF National Scholar - Athlete and a first team All-American as a senior in 1974.[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 rival Yale University. The completion set up the go-ahead touchdown in The Game for Harvard.[5] Harvard, with the 21–16 win and a 6–1 record, shared the title with Yale.

Professional career

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Perfect Wonderlic score

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McInally scored the only verified perfect score among NFL players on the Wonderlic 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]

Cincinnati Bengals

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McInally was selected in the fifth round of the 1975 NFL draft, but suffered a broken leg while scoring a touchdown in the College All-Star Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in early August,[12] and missed the entire 1975 season.[13]

He was the Bengals punter from 1976 to 1985, and also was a wide receiver during the first half of his career. He led the league in net yards per punt in 1977 (36.4) and in punting average in 1978 (43.1) and 1981 (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 in 1980, 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]

In 1980 Bengals' season finale, which was a Bengals–Browns rivalry game, Thom Darden used a forearm tackle 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 three receptions for 86 yards, including a game-tying touchdown.[16] The hit and McInally's recovery are a legendary part of the intrastate rivalry.[17]

NFL career statistics

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Legend
Led the league
Bold Career high

Regular season

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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

Playoffs

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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

Life after football

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McInally married Leslie Bevis (not the actor) in 1984. They have two children[18] and reside in Huntington Beach, California.[19]

McInally conceived the Starting Lineup series of action figures circa 1986, the final year of his career, and pitched the idea to Kenner, a leading producer of toys. Kenner agreed to develop it and the line became a top seller. Kenner was later sold to Hasbro. 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 the 2001 Major League Baseball season. The action figures generated $700 million in sales. McInally received royalties in retirement.

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 on NFL.com.[21] For years he wrote a newspaper column nationally syndicated by King Features, "Pat Answers for Kids." The column, which first ran in the Cincinnati Enquirer, eventually appeared in newspapers nationwide including the Chicago Tribune and the Boston Globe.[4]

In 2006, the Wonderlic Company named McInally its director of marketing and testing to help student athletes prepare for the SAT.[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 of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, which had been given to the real Alice, Alice Liddell.[24]

References

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  1. ^ Pat McInally '75: Harvard's Newest College Football Hall of Fame Inductee, THE GAME Program, Nov. 19, 2016, Harvard Football News, Harvard University, by line John Powers
  2. ^ Harvard Athletics Communications, Jan 08, 2016
  3. ^ "Gridiron Club of Greater Boston | HOME".
  4. ^ a b "McInally's life off the field has eclipsed playing career - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  5. ^ The Game program, November 19, 2016, pg. 40, by line John Powers
  6. ^ a b McClellan, Bob (June 15, 2006). "McInally continues to perfect the Wonderlic". Rivals.com. Archived from the original on October 24, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2011.
  7. ^ "ESPN.com - Page2 - Taking your Wonderlics". www.espn.com. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  8. ^ "The story of Wonderlic, being awesome since 1937". Wonderlic. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  9. ^ Pollick, Michael. "What is the Wonderlic Personnel Test". www.wisegeek.com. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  10. ^ "Ivy League Sports". Archived from the original on August 31, 2006. Retrieved October 17, 2006.
  11. ^ a b Lopresti, Mike (September 26, 2011). "Harvard's Ryan Fitzpatrick gets passing grades for 3-0 Bills". USA Today. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
  12. ^ Hoffman, Dale (August 2, 1975). "Gilliam turns Star dreams into dust". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.
  13. ^ "Rivals.com College Football - McInally continues to perfect the Wonderlic". Archived from the original on October 24, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2011.
  14. ^ a b "Pat McInally Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  15. ^ Anderson, Dave (December 22, 1980). "The Cardiac Champions". The New York Times. p. C.1. ProQuest 424024679. Retrieved April 6, 2024.
  16. ^ Schneider, Russell (December 22, 1980). "Field goal puts Browns in playoffs Browns 27, Cincinnati Bengals 24 Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati". The Plain Dealer. p. BB. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  17. ^ Ludwig, Chick (October 11, 2001). "MCINALLY'S KNOCKOUT, COMEBACK PART OF LORE: [CITY Edition]". Dayton Daily News. p. 1D. ProQuest 254442120. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  18. ^ "For Harvard man Pat McInally of the Bengals, the big - 12.03.84 - SI Vault". sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014.
  19. ^ Profile, ocregister.com; accessed December 23, 2014.
  20. ^ Starr, Cindy (May 22, 1997). "It's a kick for McInally to break into the Lineup". The Kentucky Post. Archived from the original on March 29, 2007.
  21. ^ Good Sports For Life website Archived 2006-06-17 at the Wayback Machine; accessed December 23, 2014.
  22. ^ McInally continues to perfect the Wonderlic Archived 2013-10-24 at the Wayback Machine, collegefootball.rivals.com; accessed December 23, 2014.
  23. ^ "College Sports Connections".
  24. ^ "Real Alice book sold for $115,000". BBC News. December 17, 2009. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
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