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

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

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 are ...

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 C ...

. As a professional athlete, McKay played wide receiver for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) from 1976 to 1978.

College career

McKay played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

, 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 the former athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles from August 2010 to June 2016. He played quarterback for the USC Trojans before playing professionally in ...

in the fourth quarter of the

1975 Rose Bowl The 1975 Rose Bowl was the 61st edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Wednesday, January 1. The fifth-ranked USC Trojans of the Pacific-8 Conference defeated #3 Ohio State Bucke ...

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, usually 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. The Rose ...

in 1998.

Professional career

He was drafted by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

in the 16th round of the

1975 NFL Draft The 1975 National Football League 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 Bartko ...

, 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. They wer ...

of the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest t ...

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. The expansion teams, the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Flor ...

, 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 American football, football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often ...

'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

Post-playing career

After retiring from professional football, McKay attended the

Stetson University College of Law Stetson University College of Law (Stetson Law), founded in 1900 and part of Stetson University, is Florida's first law school. Originally located near the university's main campus in DeLand, Florida, the law school moved in 1954 to Gulfport, Flor ...

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

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

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 XFL (2001), XFL, begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and by NBC, a major television network in the ...

in the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

. 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

president,

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

. 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 Sportspeople from Eugene, Oregon Stetson University College of Law alumni Alliance of American Football executives