Missouri State

Ardie McCOY
Football-Wrestling, 1965-69
Inducted February 22, 1997

Ardie McCoy was a four-year Missouri State football letterman from 1965 to 1968 and his four seasons as a standout performer with the grid Bears coincided with the four years Jim Mentis was the Missouri State head football coach. McCoy also earned four varsity letters in wrestling from 1965-66 through 1968-69. In football, MSU finished as the MIAA runner-up in 1965, won the league title and played in the Mineral Water Bowl game in 1966, and tied for third place in the conference in both 1967 and 1968. McCoy was the Bears' leading rusher in 1966, when he gained 490 yards on the ground, and again in 1967, when he piled up 759 yards. He logged another 493 yards in 1968 and was just 30 yards away from leading the team for a third straight season. A native of St. Louis who combined speed and power at the tailback position for the Bears, McCoy was a key ingredient as MSU swept through the MIAA with a 5-0 league record during the league championship season of 1966, rolling up a total of seven victories before losing to Adams State in the Mineral Water Bowl. McCoy set an MSU single season record with 177 carries in the 1967 season despite missing a substantial part of the campaign with a knee injury. McCoy finished his four-year career with 431 carries for 1,850 total rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. His rushing total was second best in school history at the end of his playing days and he remains among the Bears' all-time top 10 career rushers nearly three decades after the completion of his MSU football career. In wrestling, McCoy competed during the very early years of the program under coach Mike McCarty, and captured back-to-back MIAA championships as a junior in 1967-68 and as a senior in 1968-69 in the 167-pound weight class. McCoy served as the MSU team captain and was named Bears' Most Valuable Wrestler during his senior season of 1968-69.