McKay named to Hall of Fame

Former Portageville football coach Jim McKay, seen here talking to a player during a 2002 playoff game, was named to the Missouri Football Coaches Hall of Fame after compiling a 135-96-2 record. McKay retired from coaching after the 2003 season. (Photo by David Jenkins, Staff)

PORTAGEVILLE -- During his tenure at Portageville High School, the legendary Jim McKay had accomplished many things on the football field for the Bulldogs in his 25 years of coaching.

Five playoff appearances, becoming the winningest coach in Portageville history with 135 wins and solidifying himself as one of the best coaches in the state of Missouri.

With those feats in mind, it's only fitting that a man of his stature becomes one of the newest members of the Missouri High School Football Coaching Hall of Fame.

"I thought it was somebody pulling a prank," McKay said about being inducted. "It was a big surprise and it was a pleasant surprise. I'm tickled to death to have got it. I never expected it."

Along with Paul Webber, who was the head football coach at Jackson High School for 20 years, McKay was voted in to the coaching Hall of Fame by a committee of coaches.

McKay, who is currently a member of the Portageville school board, first began coaching at Portageville in 1964 where he was the junior varsity basketball coach and the junior high football coach. Three years later, he was named the head football coach for the Bulldogs.

From that point forward, McKay and the Bulldogs would be looked upon as a force on the gridiron as he guided his squad to their first playoff appearance in school history in 1977.

"We played Country Day two years-in-a-row," McKay said. "It was all new to us in the first year. We was kind of big eyed and the kids got beat pretty good. But, we loved every bit of it. We felt like we ought to be able to play with people our size."

Country Day took care of the Bulldogs 30-0 in their first playoff game. The very next year, the Bulldogs suffered another loss to Country Day, 23-10.

McKay became known as having an innate ability to turn struggling high school football programs around with his style of coaching. He accomplished that feat twice in his career; once in Hayti and once in Portageville.

After an 0-9 season in 1998 for the Hayti Indians, McKay, along with Jerry Bethune, decided to try their luck with the Indians and attempt to turn around one of the more troubled programs in recent history.

A rebuilding year in 1999 saw a 2-8 record, but the following year, McKay and Bethune worked their magic for an 8-2 record.

McKay decided to leave Hayti after that year and head back to where he began his career to try and turn around another struggling program in Portageville.

Hayti went on to have two of their best seasons in school history after the McKay-Bethune transformation. In 2001 the Indians were 11-1 with a loss in the quarterfinal round and in 2002 Hayti went 11-2 with a 35-22 loss in the state championship game against Adrian with David Gilmore at the helm.

In McKay's second stint at Portageville he was responsible for turning another 0-9 team in 2000 around. In 2001 the Bulldogs were 7-3 and made their first trip to the post-season in 18 years. Another playoff appearance would rise in the next year when McKay led his squad to an 8-3 record and a trip to the quarterfinals round where they came up short against Lutheran North, 13-7.

Through 1967-88, McKay accumulated a record of 115 wins, 86 losses and two ties all with Portageville. Between 2001-03, he took the Bulldogs to two post-season's ('01 and '02) and compiled a 20-10 record over those three years.

He finished his coaching career at Portageville with 135 wins, 96 losses and two ties. McKay's 135 wins is one of the best total career winning records in Southeast Missouri history.

After almost 40 years of some sort of coaching, whether it was junior high, varsity, basketball, track or football, McKay truly epitomizes what it means to be a coach.

"I enjoyed every second of it," said McKay. "I loved coaching with the kids and I just love coaching period."

McKay file

> Years: 25 (1967-88, 2001-2003)
> Record: 135-96-2
> Playoff appearances: 5 (1977-78-83-2001-02)