John Patrick McCarthy (1916-1998) was a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player in 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 ...

. He graduated from

Camden Catholic High School Camden Catholic High School (CCHS) is a four-year comprehensive private coeducational Roman Catholic high school, located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area in Cherry Hill, Camden County,in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school operates ...

in 1935 and

Saint Francis University Saint Francis University (SFU) is a private Catholic university in Loretto, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1847 and conducted under the tradition of the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular. The university is situated on in the fore ...

in 1942, where he was named to the first-team of the Little College All-American Football Team for 1941. He played in the

for just one season in 1944. McCarthy played for "

Card-Pitt Card-Pitt was the team created by the temporary merger of two National Football League (NFL) teams, the Chicago Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers, during the 1944 season. It was the second such merger for the Steelers, who had combined with ...

", a team that was the result of a temporary merger between the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

and the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

. The teams' merger was a result of the manning shortages experienced league-wide due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. McCarthy was brought in as the team's

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

after starter

Coley McDonough Coleman Regis "Coley" McDonough (October 10, 1915July 5, 1965) was a professional American football quarterback in the National Football League. He played four seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Cardinals. Formative years A nat ...

was drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

just six days prior to the team's second game. During a game against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

, McCarthy's 35 yard-per-punt average emboldened Card-Pitt to release Johnny Martin. At the end of the season, the Card-Pitt passers completed just 31% of their attempts, with eight

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s and 41

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s (a record at the time, and still the third highest total in NFL history). McCarthy threw 13 of those interceptions, and did not throw any touchdown passes. His

quarterback rating Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leagu ...

was 3.0. He also was the punter for the Card-Pitt team averaging 33.4 yards for 24 punts. He served in the Army Air Corp at the end of World War II. He was a pitcher for a Canadian-American League farm team of the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

of Major League Baseball. He was a batting practice pitcher for the Phillies. He became teacher of business and accounting and a basketball coach. Over the next 25 years at

Gloucester Catholic High School Gloucester Catholic High School is a co-educational six-year Roman Catholic high school located in Gloucester City, in Camden County, New Jersey. The school is managed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden. The school serves students in seve ...

, Gloucester High School, and

Haddon Township High School Haddon Township High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in Haddon Township, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary sc ...

in New Jersey his teams won more than 370 wins. His teams had 13 seasons with more than 20 wins and only one losing season. He was twice named South Jersey Coach of the Year. He was nicked named "The Silver Fox" because he was a wise strategist and he grayed prematurely in his 30s. He was an assistant men's basketball coach at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

under head coach

Don Casey Lawrence Donald Casey (born June 17, 1937) is an American former professional and collegiate basketball coach. He has coached two National Basketball Association (NBA) teams, the Los Angeles Clippers and the New Jersey Nets—each for a season ...

. during the 1973–1974; 1974-1975 and 1975–1976 seasons. In his late 40s, he took up marathon running. He competed in an ultra marathon race of miles in Cooper River Park at age 62. He completed his last competitive race was at age 72. He suffered from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

and died at his home in the Westmont section of

Haddon Township, New Jersey Haddon Township is a township in Camden County, New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 15,407, an increase of 700 (+4.8%) from the 2010 census count of 14,707, in turn reflecting an increase of 56 (+0 ...

at age 81. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery,

Cherry Hill, New Jersey Cherry Hill is a township within Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a population of 74,553, which reflected an increase of 3,508 (+4.94%) from the 71,045 counted in the 2010 census.

.Hagenmayer, S. Joseph
"John P. Mccarthy, 81, S. Jersey Basketball Coach"
''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'', May 14, 1998. Accessed June 12, 2013.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, John 1916 births 1998 deaths Camden Catholic High School alumni Players of American football from Pennsylvania American football quarterbacks Saint Francis University alumni Saint Francis Red Flash football players Card-Pitt players People from Haddon Township, New Jersey Sportspeople from Camden County, New Jersey United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II