John Kenneth McKayDavid Wharton
Pat Haden is still a dashing figure
''Los Angeles Times'', July 24, 2010, Accessed July 25, 2010. (born March 28, 1953) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player, trial attorney, and executive with positions at the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan area ...

(AAF) and the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. As a professional athlete, McKay played

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) from 1976 to 1978.

College career

McKay played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

, where he played on the 1972 and 1974 National Championship teams and caught, among many others, a 38-yard touchdown pass from long time best friend, quarterback

Pat Haden Patrick Capper Haden (born January 23, 1953) is an American former professional football player and college administrator. He was the athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles from August 2010 to June 2016. ...

in the fourth quarter of the 1975 Rose Bowl game. He was named co-MVP of the game along with Haden. McKay was inducted into the

Rose Bowl Hall of Fame The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, traditionally played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. ...

in 1998.

Professional career

He was selected by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

in the 16th round of the

1975 NFL draft The 1975 NFL draft was held January 28–29, 1975, at the New York Hilton at Rockefeller Center in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Steve Bartkowski. Player selectio ...

, but opted instead to play for the

Southern California Sun The Southern California Sun were an American football team based in Anaheim, California, that played in the World Football League in 1974 and 1975. Their records were 13–7 in 1974 and 7–5 in 1975. Their home stadium was Anaheim Stadium. Th ...

of the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 in sports, 1974 and most of its second in 1975 in sports, 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a w ...

due to a dislike for the Cleveland area.Mizell, Hubert. "McKay's son: barrier to surmount". St. Petersburg Times. 6 Jul 1976. 1C After the WFL ceased operations midway through its 1975 season, the Browns made him available in the

1976 NFL expansion draft The 1976 National Football League (NFL) expansion draft was held March 30–31, 1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime ...

, where he was selected by the expansion

. In Tampa Bay, McKay started at receiver for three controversial seasons. Quarterback

Steve Spurrier Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former football player and coach. He played ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often referred to by his nicknam ...

's belief that McKay was playing ahead of better receivers because he was the son of head coach John McKay, led him to throw passes over the vulnerable middle of the field in an attempt to get McKay injured. McKay was considered a reliable pass-catcher whom opposing defenses considered as a legitimate threat. He was forced to retire due to complications from a broken hand.Gurney, Jack. "Receiver Johnny McKay May Be Done As Buccaneer". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. 7 Aug 1979. 1-C Later appraisal has supported Spurrier's skepticism regarding McKay's playing time; a 2011

Deadspin ''Deadspin'' is a sports blog owned by Lineup Publishing. Founded by Will Leitch in 2005 and originally based in Chicago, it was then sold to Gawker Media, Univision Communications and G/O Media. Lineup Publishing acquired it in March 2024, t ...

article bestowed McKay the dubious honor of being named the fifth-worst NFL player ever, calling him "the biggest beneficiary of nepotism in NFL history" who "lacked NFL speed and separation" while highlighting his only 41 catches across three seasons.

Post-playing career

After retiring from professional football, McKay attended the

Stetson University College of Law The Stetson University College of Law (branded as Stetson Law) is the law school of Stetson University. The law school occupies a historic 1920s resort hotel, the Rolyat Hotel, designed by Richard Kiehnel. The College of Law is accredited by the ...

, and became a trial attorney in the Tampa area. In 1986, he moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and continued practicing law as a partner with the law firm of Allen, Matkins, Leck, Gamble & Mallory. In 2001, he took a position as General Manager of the

Los Angeles Xtreme The Los Angeles Xtreme was a professional American football team based in Los Angeles, California. The team was a member of the original version of the XFL (2001), XFL, begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and by NBC, a major ...

in the XFL. The Xtreme were the first and only champions of the XFL. In 2010, McKay became Senior Associate Athletic Director of the

, under the direction of his friend and former teammate

. In 2018, he was announced as the Head of Football Operations of the

Personal life

McKay is a son of former USC Trojan and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach John McKay and the older brother of former Buccaneers

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

and

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

president,

Rich McKay Richard James McKay (born March 16, 1959) is an American professional American football, football executive who is the CEO of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). Prior to joining the Falcons, he was the general manager of ...

. McKay is married and has three children. He is often referred to as "J. K." in the press, but is more commonly known as "John" or "Johnny".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, J. K. 1953 births Living people American football wide receivers USC Trojans football players Cleveland Browns players Southern California Sun players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Players of American football from Eugene, Oregon Stetson University College of Law alumni Alliance of American Football executives