Fayetteville's McKown, Trap Hill's Terry among WVSACA Hall of Fame inductees

Jun. 16—The West Virginia Schools Athletic Coaches Association is proud to announce the 2021 Class of the WVSACA Hall of Fame.

This year's honorees are Mike McCoy of Parkersburg High School and Marshall University, Jody McKown of Fayetteville High School and West Virginia University and Ron Terry, a Trap Hill High School graduate who spent his entire coaching career at Buffalo-Wayne High School.

The 2021 Hall of Fame class will be inducted in a ceremony at Little Creek Country Club in South Charleston Friday at 5 p.m. and introduced at halftime at the North-South Football Classic on Saturday at South Charleston High School.

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In the early 1980s, Mike McCoy established himself as one of the all-time greatest running backs in the storied history of Parkersburg Big Red football.

McCoy, who graduated in 1984, was a three-year starter for head coach Buddy James, who was the head coach for the North in the 1977 North-South Classic.

As a bruising runner, McCoy worked his way into being one of the school's Top 10 best backs ever by amassing 2,555 yards on 498 carries for an average of 5.1 per carry. Along the way he scored 18 touchdowns.

In addition, McCoy, a Class AAA first-team all-stater, caught 18 passes for 232 yards and made 54 tackles on the defensive side of the ball.

In the season of 1983, he was named his team's Most Valuable Player.

McCoy was selected to the North Bears squad of the late Vic Bonfilli, the head coach at Morgantown High, in 1984 and scored the game's first touchdown. The Bears lost a heartbreaking overtime decision to the South, 14-13.

After the North-South Classic, McCoy chose to walk-on at Marshall instead of taking one of several scholarship offers from small college programs. By the second week of practice for head coach Stan Parrish's Thundering Herd, McCoy had earned a scholarship. He became a starting fullback in the second game of the season.

He started as a sophomore and junior and was the team's leading rusher in the season of 1985.

In his junior year, McCoy garnered the prestigious Buck Harless Award which is given annually to Marshall's outstanding student-athlete for all sports. As a senior, he helped the Thundering Herd of head coach George Chaump reach the NCAA I-AA national championship game against Northwestern Louisiana.

After college, McCoy worked two years as a graduate assistant coach for Marshall football, then spent a year at Rutgers before joining Chaump at Navy in the seasons of 1991-94.

McCoy later coached at Edinboro and Marietta College.

The last several years he has enjoyed a successful career as a State Farm Insurance agent in Moundsville.

McCoy is a member of the Parkersburg High Football Hall of Fame and the Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame.

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Jody McKown was a three-sport standout at Fayetteville High School. McKown earned Class AA first-team all-state quarterback honors in the season of 1976 while playing for his father, the late Paul McKown.

In addition to football, he was twice named the Class AA second-team all-state captain in basketball. McKown averaged 27.2 points as a junior and 23.0 as a senior.

In track and field, he won the prestigious Gazette Relays his senior year in the 180 low hurdles and placed third in the 120 lows at the 1977 West Virginia High School State Track and Field Meet.

Since Fayetteville didn't field a baseball team, McKown excelled in the sport for various high level summer teams.

He represented Fayetteville in the 1977 North-South All-Star Football Classic. McKown started in the secondary, punted and was the holder for kicker Jim Thompson in the game.

He is remembered for a vicious hit against a North player allowing Sherman's Richie Halstead, who had intercepted a North pass, to spring loose and score a TD in the South's 23-6 win.

The head coach of the South team was the late, legendary Carl Ward of Ceredo-Kenova. Making the two-week North-South period extra special for McKown was the fact his father served as one of the three South assistants.

While undersized, McKown took his football talents to West Virginia University and quickly found himself playing regularly in the secondary. He picked off two passes his freshman season and returned one for a touchdown against Boston College.

As a freshman, sophomore and junior, McKown collected 41 tackles while earning three letters.

Unfortunately, McKown's bone-jarring hits and physical nature as both a free safety and cornerback took a toll on his body. A neck injury forced him to the sidelines as a senior in the season of 1980 — Don Nehlen's first at the helm of Mountaineer football.

By the grace of God, he was able to return to the program in 1981 to serve as the team's punter and holder. It allowed him to earn a fourth letter as a Mountaineer.

In fact, it was his punting performance in the North-South game that got him back on the field in Morgantown. WVU had to replace an outstanding punter in Curt Carion for the season of 1981. Assistant coach Gary Tranquill recalled McKown's excellent display of punting in the N-S game and mentioned him to Nehlen.

McKown, who had been kept on scholarship with a medical redshirt, won the job in the spring and was an integral part of a Mountaineer squad that went 9-3. The glorious season was capped off with a 26-6 win over Florida in the Peach Bowl played at Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium.

McKown averaged close to 40 yards a punt that season with a long of 56. He held on extra points and field goals for WVU's talented freshman kicker Paul Woodside.

Also while at WVU, McKown returned two punts.

Since his playing days, McKown ironically has spent the bulk of his life living in the area where he played his final college football game — Atlanta.

McKown is the owner and founder of Action Sports International, photographing over 600 events worldwide, including college football teams, marathons, triathlons and Ironman competitions.

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Ron Terry enjoyed a phenomenal coaching career in Wayne County.

A proud graduate of old Trap Hill High School (now a part of Liberty) and Marshall University, Terry spent his entire coaching career at old Buffalo-Wayne High School (now a part of Spring Valley). He was an assistant to Phil Davis and Jim Thornburg from 1969-1988. He became the defensive coordinator for coach Davis' Bison in 1979. In that season, Buffalo reached the Class AA state championship game.

Terry helped the Bison back to the title game in 1985.

In 1989, Terry took over as head coach and led the program to several outstanding achievements, including the Class AA state championship in 1992 — the only one in school history. Terry's 1991 team reached the Class AA semifinals and won the Ohio Valley Conference championship.

Terry was chosen as the head coach of the South Cardinals in the 1994 North-South Classic and led his team to a 28-0 victory.

He picked up several honors during his head coaching years. Terry was named the 1991 Ohio Valley Conference Football Coach of the Year, the 1992 Huntington Herald-Dispatch Tri-State Football Coach of the Year, the 1992 Elks Club Co-Coach of the Year (sharing the honor with Marshall University's Jim Donnan) and the 1992 West Virginia Coaches Association Football Coach of the Year.

Besides football, Terry was both the school's assistant basketball coach and head baseball coach. He founded the Buffalo baseball program in 1971 and served as the school's head coach through 1996.

Terry won over 300 games as head baseball coach and led the Bison to the 1977 state championship game in Class AA-A.

Following his coaching days, Terry became the first-ever athletic director at Spring Valley High School. He served in that capacity from 1997-2003. He oversaw the construction of the football and track and field complex at SVHS as well as the soccer and baseball facilities.

In 2003, Terry was chosen as the Athletic Director of the Year by the West Virginia Athletic Directors Association.