Aug. 31, 2010

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Former University of Notre Dame All-America defensive lineman Mike McCoy will be honored at halftime of Notre Dame’s 2010 season-opening football game Saturday (Sept. 4) at Notre Dame Stadium against Purdue — in recognition of the Charlotte Touchdown Club in June naming McCoy winner of the 2010 Bronko Nagurski “Legends” Award, which recognizes the “best of the best” of defensive football players from the past 40 years.

In addition to the halftime presentation, McCoy will be a special guest Friday at the Notre Dame Football Kickoff Luncheon at the Joyce Center.

The Nagurski Legends award will be presented during the annual Bronko Nagurski Award Banquet Monday, Dec. 6, 2010, at The Westin Hotel in Charlotte, N.C.

The 6-5, 270-pound McCoy was a 1969 consensus All-American at Notre Dame where he graduated in 1970 with a degree in economics. He finished sixth in the ’69 Heisman Trophy voting and also was the Associated Press Lineman of the Year in ’69. A two-year starter at defensive tackle for the Irish in 1968-69, McCoy accumulated 203 career tackles, two for losses, to go with two interceptions. He played in the 1970 College All-Star Game.

The Green Bay Packers drafted McCoy as the second overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft. Originally from Erie, Pa., he contributed to the Packers winning the 1972 NFC Central Division, while also leading Green Bay in quarterback sacks in 1973 and 1976. He played 11 seasons in the NFL, seven in Green Bay (1970-76), and also with Oakland (1977-78), Detroit (1980) and the New York Giants (1979-80). McCoy previously has been honored as the Green Bay Packers Rookie of the Year, an NFL All-Pro player, the Packers’ Dodge NFL Man of the Year. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame and into the Erie (Pa.) Pro Hall of Fame.

Away from the football field, McCoy was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the Council on Sports for a Drug Free America and by former Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh to the Pennsylvania Council for Physical Fitness. McCoy served as the chaplain of the Atlanta Braves and currently serves on several community outreach boards. He received the Harvey G. Foster Award from the Notre Dame Alumni Association in 2005.

McCoy served on the board of directors of YMCA Camp High Harbour and Camp Hope in Georgia, as well as boards of Pro Athletes Outreach and Wisconsin Special Olympics. Previously a part of Bill Glass Ministries, McCoy now is president of Mike McCoy Ministries, speaking primarily in schools across the country.

McCoy and his wife Kia live in Jefferson, Ga., and are parents of four children.

The initial “Legends” award, sponsored by CSX Intermodal, was presented in 2007 to players from the 1966 season, the first year the FWAA All-American Teams were separated into defense and offense. The Charlotte Touchdown Club and the Football Writers Association of America present the Bronko Nagurski Trophy annually to the nation’s most outstanding NCAA defensive football player. The Charlotte Touchdown Club also honors local college and high school football players and over the last decade has raised nearly $1,000,000 for student athletic scholarships throughout the Charlotte Metro Area.

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