NFL Star Mike McCoy: Notre Dame to Green Bay

Listen to it here.

Watch it here.

Mike McCoy was a star at Notre Dame then off to an 11 year NFL award winning career as defensive tackle with Green Bay. In todays amazing story of his life and career you'll hear about his time in football, but maybe more powerful was his transition into prison ministry, and then to his youth mission, sharing the Gospel with young people in Catholic schools throughout America: Mike McCoy Ministries. From a tough childhood with an alcoholic father, Mike found football, several solid mentors and the goodness of God's grace that gave him the confidence to excel. Beyond his Catholic upbringing, you'll hear the specifics of how Mike learned to really know Jesus. Including his personal experience with the "JESUS REVOLUTION' Mike was right in the midst of it in the 70's. In fact he spoke to a crowd of over 200,000 Jesus Freaks in Dallas at Expo 72. There were some heart breaking challenges in Mike's story too. He lost his wife Kia, a professional ice skater, to cancer 10 years ago. Her journey was captured in a book his son published called "Angel on Ice: A mother's legacy of trusting God's sovereignty". To see the 5 minute video of Kia's journey, Click here. Enjoy the amazing story of football great, Mike McCoy! #mikemccoy #Greenbay #Jesusrevolution #Angelonice #Amazinggreats

"Amazing Greats" is a library of interviews with highly successful people who have amazing career and life stories and who share how God has impacted their journey. Hosted by broadcaster Ric Hansen & produced by Klem Daniels. Available on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Google and our YouTube Channel. Please help us grow our audience by "liking", "subscribing and "Sharing". Thanks so much.

MIKE McCOY AT A GLANCE

Notre Dame Football Star • 11-Year NFL Veteran • Christian Speaker • Ministry Leader

Topics

Notre Dame • NFL • Green Bay Packers • Faith • Jesus Revolution • PAO • Catholic schools • Ministry • Kia McCoy • Angel on Ice • Grace

His Faith Journey

Catholic upbringing → Religious faith and duty → Personal relationship with Christ → NFL chapel → Jesus Revolution → Professional ministry → Catholic-school outreach

This Episode Explores

• Mike McCoy's difficult childhood

• Football at Notre Dame

• His 11-year NFL career

• Mentors Tony Zambrowski and Ara Parseghian

• Discovering a personal relationship with Jesus

• Expo '72 and the Jesus Revolution

• Founding Professional Athletes Outreach

• Bringing chapel to the Oakland Raiders

• Kia McCoy's life and death

• Grief, faith and God's providence

• Angel on Ice

• Mike McCoy's ministry to young people

Questions Answered

• Who is Mike McCoy?

• How did Mike McCoy get to Notre Dame?

• How did he enter the NFL?

• What did Tony Zambrowski teach Mike McCoy?

• How did Mike McCoy come to faith in Jesus?

• What was Expo '72?

• What is Professional Athletes Outreach?

• How did Mike McCoy bring chapel to the Raiders?

• Who was Kia McCoy?

• What is Angel on Ice?

• How did Mike McCoy respond to Kia's death?

• What does Mike McCoy teach Catholic-school students?

• What does Galatians 2:20 mean to Mike McCoy?

Podcast Transcript: Mike McCoy on Football, Faith, Jesus & a Life of Service

Amazing Greats with Ric Hansen

Introduction

Ric Hansen:Hi there, Ric Hansen with Amazing Greats. Today we're talking with a guy who played football at the highest level. He was also one of the original 12 professional athletes who founded Professional Athletes Outreach, or PAO, which has been active for more than 50 years.

Although he got a C in speech class, he spoke to more than 200,000 people in Dallas at Expo '72 during the Jesus Revolution. He's also spoken with thousands of inmates during years of prison ministry. Today he speaks at Catholic schools all over America.

You're going to love the life journey of Mike McCoy.

Speaker:Last year, Mike McCoy, number 76, enjoyed his final season in pro football. In time, the real McCoy himself must be recognized as one of the premier performers in the game.

Ric Hansen:Normally I have this wonderful backdrop that says Amazing Greats and all that. But for today's show, for some reason, technology has baffled me, so I'm just going to go with the blur look.

Let me do the introductions.

Mike McCoy was a football star at Notre Dame. He's played, I believe, eight years in the NFL, most notably with the Green Bay Packers. He also played with Oakland and New York.

We're going to talk about football a little bit, but more importantly, we're going to talk about how football has impacted your life—and, more importantly, how Jesus Christ has impacted your life.

That's where we're going to go with all of this.

Welcome, Mike.

Mike McCoy:Thanks, Ric.

I played 11 years. Those last four years were tough. Seven with Green Bay, two with the Raiders, and two with the New York Giants.

Not too many guys make it past three years, so I don't know if I was blessed or not, but we were able to get her done.

A Difficult Childhood

Ric Hansen:You've got a great story. Football is just a little piece of it when you start looking at the whole deal.

Let's start with the fact that you had a rocky start to this thing called life.

Tell us a little bit about your youth.

Mike McCoy:I grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, my dad made some bad choices when I was in third or fourth grade. He lost his State Farm business, so we had to move in with my grandparents.

They were great people—John and Alice Spadaga—in Erie, Pennsylvania.

We were in Meadville, which was about 50 miles north. But in third and fourth grade, that's like moving across the country.

You lose all your friends and it's a new atmosphere, even though we'd been up there many times. I had some great family connections on the Polish side of the family.

My mother was Polish. She was first generation, and my grandfather came over in 1918 to avoid the Russian army coming into Poland and taking all the kids.

My great-great-grandmother put the two oldest boys on a boat. They came through Erie and through the immigration system in Canada. They were sponsored because you had to be sponsored back then.

He went to work, learned English, learned how to box and wrestle, and worked at a Polish National Alliance Club. Eventually he opened his own business called Crown Bottling Works.

He was about five-foot-six and 170 pounds—just solid. Even at age 74, he was five-foot-six and 170 pounds.

So that was a difficult time.

My dad had many, many different jobs. I loved my dad. He was an alcoholic, but he was a "fun alcoholic," if you want to call it that.

There are different kinds of alcoholics. Some are morbid and angry, but he was fun. Everybody loved Tom, the big Irish guy. He was always the one who ran the beer tent at the Catholic bazaars.

I was a big kid. In fifth grade I was five-foot-five and 165 pounds. I didn't play football because I was too fat. I started playing a little baseball and basketball.

Faith, the Priesthood and Football

Ric Hansen:Emotionally, those were rugged days for you, right?

Mike McCoy:I had a great support system.

My mother was a six-foot, 180-pound Polish lady. I had my grandparents, my cousins, the Spadaga family, and my faith through St. John the Baptist Church, the priests and the nuns.

I had some good friends.

All those things helped me get through that time. If I didn't have those things, it probably would have been a different story.

Then I got a call to become a priest.

Father Teller came into the seventh- and eighth-grade classes and basically said, "All you guys have a calling to be a priest."

So I went to St. Mark Seminary for a year.

It didn't turn out.

I was going to leave the seminary after my freshman year and go to Academy High School, where my mother had gone.

Cathedral Prep was an all-boys school in the area. There were 1,200 students at the time, and Monsignor McDonald said there was no room for those "sissy seminarians."

Ric Hansen:Yeah.

Mike McCoy:Until someone told him, "Monsignor, this sissy seminarian plays basketball."

I had started playing a little football with the seminarians. I was six-foot-three, about 240 pounds, and wore a size 15 cleat.

So I was in.

Ric Hansen:Sounds like a football player to me.

Mike McCoy:Yeah.

Tony Zambrowski was the line coach at the time. He really became my mentor.

I didn't realize it at the time, but he had grown up in an alcoholic family, so he pretty much knew what I was going through.

He helped me develop and taught me the game of football. His family wrapped around me too—his wife and kids. I got to know them very well.

Unfortunately, both Tony and his wife have passed away.

One thing he did was encourage me to go out for wrestling after football my sophomore year.

I'd never wrestled before. Erie was a pretty good wrestling town. Guys had wrestling gyms in their garages. You'd go down there on Friday night and wrestle.

It was tough.

Ric Hansen:Were you in the unlimited weight class?

Mike McCoy:I was heavyweight.

I started wrestling and did very well. It changed me into a better football player. I became more aggressive my junior year.

I went both ways and just loved it.

I continued playing football and wrestling and started making all-star teams and all-city teams.

The Life Lessons of a Mentor

Ric Hansen:Let me pause here because this is where I'm going to throw you off guard.

I told you this was going to be the Life Lesson Lightning Round.

I've got some people I know are important in your life, and I'm just going to ask you to give me the lesson you think they stand out for in your lifelong endeavors.

Number one: Tony Zambrowski. What was his life lesson?

Mike McCoy:I think I went through a lot of it.

He became my mentor and guided me through those tough times. He kept encouraging me.

He asked, "Where do you want to go to college?"

I said, "College? What's that?"

My sister went to college, but she was the only one.

That was my junior year, and Tony started planting the seeds of my future.

By the time I reached my senior year, I had multiple offers, and he guided me through those.

He actually took me to Notre Dame in the spring of my junior year with his wife, Maria. I went to the spring game and met Ara Parseghian.

I thought, "Wow."

I still went to Syracuse, Indiana and Penn State and visited them, but I committed to Notre Dame before Christmas of my senior year.

Ric Hansen:Okay, number two in the lightning round: life lessons from Ara Parseghian.

Mike McCoy:Great character. Great personality.

He kept the line between authority and friend.

You just felt that no matter who you were playing or what team you were going to play, we had the edge because of Ara and his expertise as a player and a coach.

He had played for the Cleveland Browns before an injury ended his playing career. As a coach, his game plans were tremendous.

You always felt going into the game, "We've got this," because of Ara and how he prepared us during the week.

Notre Dame and the NFL

Ric Hansen:He was your coach all the way through Notre Dame, and that's where you really became a star.

You got awards. You were a big deal at that point.

Mike McCoy:Literally, I was.

One of Ara's phrases was, "There are no circumstances we cannot overcome."

Another phrase involved his holding up a fist.

If you take one finger away, you lose the power of the fist.

When we went in there as a team, playing together, that was big for us.

Johnny Ray was my linebacker coach, and Joe Yonto was my line coach. Those guys had a great influence on me too.

Ric Hansen:And you stood out as such a star that you were drafted right out of Notre Dame, right?

Mike McCoy:Yes.

You've got to understand, that was 1970. No ESPN, no money. The leagues were merging between the AFL and NFL.

I was actually heading off to law school. That was my goal at the time.

I went to class one day in February. It was snowing in South Bend.

I got a phone call and was told to call Pat Peppler of the Green Bay Packers because the draft was on. There was no publicity at all.

I called him.

He said, "You've just been drafted by the Green Bay Packers."

I said, "I appreciate that."

That was it.

I didn't hear from him again until I went up there in April to sign my big contract for $18,000.

Ric Hansen:Oh my gosh.

Mike McCoy:I like to tell people it was B.M.—before money.

Terry Bradshaw was number one. He went to the Steelers, and I went to Green Bay.

Green Bay and the Legacy of Vince Lombardi

Ric Hansen:Green Bay was a great experience.

You weren't there during the Vince Lombardi years, but a lot of that must have still had an impact.

Mike McCoy:Oh, yeah.

Vince still had an impact up there.

He died September 6, 1970, which is my birthday, and he'd already gone to Washington.

Bart Starr was still there. Dave Robinson was still there. Ray Nitschke was still there. Bob Skoronski was still there.

There were lots of guys from that era still around.

Gail Gillingham had practice every day and killed me every day.

There were a lot of guys left over from the Lombardi era.

My rookie year we had Phil Bengtson, and we didn't do very well. They fired him and hired Dan Devine.

We won the NFC Central Division title in 1972.

We had a young quarterback named Scott Hunter because Bart was done. He'd had shoulder surgery and couldn't pass, so he became the quarterback coach.

We made the playoffs and played Washington. We lost 16–7.

We had MacArthur Lane and John Brockington, and we had the running game.

Dan and Bart were arguing on the sideline because Bart wanted to open things up. Washington had eight guys in the box.

I don't care how tough you are, you're not going to run against eight guys in the box.

Bart went one way, Dan went the other, and we lost 16–7.

That was also the year Miami went 17–0.

Bart Starr's Example

Ric Hansen:Bart Starr was everywhere you turned—the epitome of a great man, a great Christian guy.

Was he a Christian at that point?

Mike McCoy:I'm pretty sure he was.

His character was impeccable—how he spoke and how he carried himself.

I saw him in Erie one time at the Beachcomber. They brought in all these different guys, including Mickey Mantle.

Mickey didn't have a good night, let's put it that way.

Bart was phenomenal. Just a class act—his wife Cherry, his kids.

He had one son who lost his life to a drug overdose.

Bart did not have an easy life. Most of us don't.

He got involved with a boys' camp outside Green Bay and did everything he could to make sure those boys had a chance to get through life.

Discovering a Personal Relationship With Christ

Ric Hansen:But the real influence for you, Christianity-wise, was Carol Dale, right?

Mike McCoy:Yeah. I call him my spiritual dad.

I had faith. I knew who God was. I knew who Jesus Christ was. I went to church all the time.

But something was missing.

I thought, "What is missing?"

I was trying to obey the law, but I couldn't do it. It frustrated me.

A lot of my friends at Notre Dame—there were Protestants and Methodists there, believe it or not—had the same experience with religion.

You've got to understand, that was a different church back then, in 1967, '68 and '69.

That's when all the hippies went out to California because they wanted to find meaning in life.

When Carol Dale and his wife came into our lives, he was very instrumental.

He was a very quiet guy, grew up in West Virginia. His parents had a tough life. He went to Virginia Tech, got drafted by the Rams, was traded to the Packers, played 11 or 12 years and won three Super Bowls.

He was very quiet, very unassuming and a team guy, but he was always there.

He invited me to the chapel program in the National Football League.

I said, "Even though that existed?"

Every team in the NFL has chapel. They've been having chapel since the 1950s.

Raymond Berry and Bill Glass were kind of the force behind that.

A guy named Doc Eshleman, whose son was Paul Eshleman, who did the Jesus Film, was the unofficial chaplain of the NFL.

We'd have speakers everywhere we went. They were usually business people, not pastors or priests.

I thought, "Why not? I'll go to church Saturday night, fulfill my duty and obligation, and I'll go to this thing called chapel."

I started going to chapel.

I may have heard this message growing up, but I don't know.

These guys were saying that at some point in their lives, they made a free-will decision to open their hearts to Christ and invite Him into their lives.

That was different.

My relationship with God had been about duty and obligation—trying to follow the law and all the dictates of my faith.

I was frustrated.

I heard that message for a year.

Then, in the offseason between my rookie year and second year, my wife, Kia, and I went to Marshall, North Carolina.

Carol got us involved with an FCA camp.

By that time, Kia had also—

Ric Hansen:No?

Mike McCoy:No. She thought I'd gone crazy.

She said, "Really? Who did I marry here?"

She was very devout Catholic. Two of her uncles were priests.

We went to this camp, and it was a great experience.

Bill Chrysler came up to me on Tuesday and asked, "Mike, can you speak Wednesday night?"

There were about 500 athletes there.

Del Shelley, who later became president of FCA, was the head coach.

I said, "Sure. What do you want me to talk about?"

He said, "Talk about what it means to be a Christian pro athlete."

I thought, "I don't know if I'm a Christian or not. I'm a religious person. I believe in Jesus. I don't know if I'm going to heaven."

It really struck me.

By myself, out on that field in Marshall, I opened my heart and asked Christ to come into my life.

There were no birds singing. Nothing dramatic.

Well, I had some birds singing, but there was no big event.

I told my wife about it, and she kind of looked at me like, "Okay."

Then Wednesday night came.

I'd never really spoken before crowds like that.

I just told them what I'd done.

And the rest is history.

Expo '72 and the Jesus Revolution

Ric Hansen:Speaking of crowds, I think I'm jumping ahead a little bit here.

With the Jesus Revolution, which is the hot movie right now, you actually lived through that era and were much more connected to it than I was.

Mike McCoy:I wasn't a hippie. I was busy.

I had a couple of kids and was working out, working during the offseason.

Then I started going to the Athletes in Action conference for professional athletes in 1971.

My wife came.

Then in 1972 we had another one in February, and that's when she came forward to accept Christ into her heart.

I wish I could remember the name of this Black preacher who was the chaplain for the Washington Redskins at the time.

He had been a gang member from New Jersey and had killed people.

And here's my wife—a white, petite blonde—going forward.

I thought, "Okay."

Her reaction was that she got mad.

She said, "How come I haven't heard this before?"

I said, "Well, we may have heard it before, but now we have."

I had to calm her down a little bit.

Then we went to Expo '72 in June of 1972.

That was the Jesus Revolution rally.

It was called Expo '72. They don't mention that in the movie.

It was put on by Paul Eshleman, Campus Crusade for Christ and Athletes in Action.

There were four or five of us there—Dave Rowe, myself, Ed Mooney, Roger Staubach and several other pros.

We were there all week.

At night we'd go to the Cotton Bowl for the big rally.

It was phenomenal.

That Saturday we were in the back seat driving to the rock festival with all these people.

Doc Eshleman turned to me and said, "Hey, Mike, we've got a problem."

I said, "What's that, Doc?"

"Our speaker is ill. He can't speak."

There were tons of speakers and musicians—Chris Christopherson, Johnny Cash and others.

Doc said, "Would you give your testimony? Three minutes."

I said, "What?"

I looked at my wife.

She said, "Okay."

Ric Hansen:There were 250,000 people there, right?

Mike McCoy:About 200,000.

It was a huge crowd on a freeway in Dallas.

I wish we could find it on the internet.

Ric Hansen:Ric Hansen spending time with Mike McCoy on Amazing Greats as we hear about his amazing life story.

Mike McCoy:It was shown on television, and a bunch of guys back in Green Bay jumped all over me in August during training camp.

They said, "We saw you on TV at this Jesus Revolution."

I said, "Yeah, okay."

I had to take some grief for a while, but they finally came around.

Bringing Chapel to the Oakland Raiders

Ric Hansen:From Green Bay to Oakland for two seasons. John Madden was the coach, and you were responsible for bringing chapel to the Oakland Raiders.

Mike McCoy:When I was traded, I felt pretty bad because we loved Green Bay. We had a home there.

Dan needed some draft choices, and the Raiders had just won the Super Bowl in January of 1977.

I had some good friends out there—Dave Rowe and Monty Johnson—whom I'd met at the PAO conference. They had a little team Bible study.

So I said, "Okay, Lord. You're closing one door, and I've got to go through this door."

And it wasn't bad. It was 53 degrees in December instead of minus-50 degrees in Green Bay.

We went out there.

The Raiders were a tremendous team. Eight guys from that team went to the Hall of Fame, and they were named the top team of the NFL's first 50 years.

We played against them my last year in Green Bay.

I had, I believe, three sacks against Kenny Stabler. I just had one of those games. I was in the zone.

I think Al Davis saw that and said, "Hmm."

So I was on the team the next year.

I asked Monty, "Do we have chapel?"

He said, "No. Al won't let us."

I asked why.

He said, "We don't know. He just doesn't want chapel."

I prayed about it.

I said, "I'm going to go see Al."

I liked Mr. Davis. He talked to me, and I really did like him.

I figured he had just traded for me, so he wasn't going to get rid of me right away because that wouldn't look too good.

I went up and talked to him.

I said, "Hey, Mr. Davis, a lot of teams in the NFL have chaplains."

He said, "Yeah, Mike, I know about that. I'm a God guy."

I said, "That's good to hear, Mr. Davis. Is there any reason we can't have chapel?"

He said, "I don't like outside people coming in."

He was very protective of those two days before the game, and I understood that.

So I thought, "Outside people."

I said, "Well, Mr. Davis, what if we did it?"

He said, "What do you mean, what if we did it?"

I said, "What if one of the players did chapel?"

He said, "Okay."

Problem solved.

The following Sunday we had 18 or 19 guys and three or four coaches.

The Bible study grew a little bit.

Later on, Al actually hired a full-time chaplain after I left.

That was a great experience with Al Davis and those players.

Professional Athletes Outreach

Ric Hansen:You mentioned PAO. Let's talk about that.

PAO is Professional Athletes Outreach. It was originated back in that time, and you were a part of that.

Mike McCoy:I was one of the original 12 committee members.

The idea was formed after the 1971 Athletes in Action Conference because Paul and Doc knew it had to be pro-to-pro.

It couldn't be us fighting FCA and grabbing pros while FCA got mad at us. There was always that unfortunate competition.

Arles Priest was kind of the businessman behind it at that time.

They asked us to contribute $5,000.

Now, Ric, you can understand—I was making $38,000 that year.

I said, "That's more than my tithe."

Ric Hansen:Crazy.

Mike McCoy:We prayed about it, and we did it.

The first year, which was 1972, we didn't even have a name yet.

Norm Evans was part of it. Dave Rowe, Monty Johnson and many others.

We came up with the name Professional Athletes Outreach to reach professional athletes and their families and teach them God's principles for living the Christian life.

It celebrated its 50th anniversary three years ago.

It's still around.

It doesn't get a lot of publicity. They don't want that.

In 1972, that's when my late wife, Kia, went forward.

Then we had the rock festival in '73.

I think 1973 was the kickoff for the new name, PAO.

Norm Evans became president after he retired from the Seahawks.

Ric Hansen:And that grew beyond the NFL to basketball and other sports.

Mike McCoy:We had Wally Spaulding, who was a Detroit newspaper guy. He came to one of the conferences.

He wanted to start this in baseball.

If I remember correctly, his son was dying, and he said, "Lord, it's one of those things. If it happens, it happens. I'll do anything You want me to do, but save my son."

His son was saved, and he said, "I want to start chapel in baseball."

That's how Baseball Chapel started.

Ric Hansen:And hockey as well?

Mike McCoy:There are chaplains in basketball now. Soccer, I'm not sure.

Ric Hansen:Are you still active in PAO?

Mike McCoy:No, not at all.

It's an active ministry to active pros.

I kept knocking on the board, saying, "A lot of us guys are leaving, and we need to keep that connection."

But they said there was just too much to do.

Kia: The Ice Skater

Ric Hansen:Can we talk a little bit about your late wife, Kia? She was a star in her own right.

She was an ice skater, right?

Mike McCoy:Yes.

Right out of high school, she skated for Ice Capades.

She grew up in Troy, New York.

Her dad would take her to the rink when she was in fourth and fifth grade. She skated at five o'clock in the morning.

Then during her sophomore year, her world was crushed when her dad was transferred to Erie with General Electric. He was an organic chemist.

I always told her, "Kia, you wouldn't have met me."

It still didn't hurt.

She skated and could have gone to the Olympics, but didn't want to.

She went to Ice Capades her first two years after high school.

We dated a little bit before she went to Ice Capades, between her senior year and my freshman year at Notre Dame.

Then we kept in touch.

Eventually she came out and we got together.

Kia's Return to the Ice

Mike McCoy:When Kia was 60, her sister Monica, who was four or five years younger, was still skating in international adult ice-skating championships.

We convinced Kia to skate in them.

She said, "Monica, it's been 30 years since I really put on a skate. They don't even fit anymore."

I was in Milwaukee speaking at some Catholic schools, which is what I do now.

She called ahead, knew the people who ran the big rink there, ordered skates, got fitted and started training.

It became a girl thing, and she did it for almost two and a half years.

In May of 2012, she was skating to "Amazing Grace."

She won that competition.

But she had a little sore spot in her thigh.

We didn't know what it was.

By the time she got home, about ten days later, there was something sticking out of her thigh.

It was sarcoma.

We found out July 5, 2012.

It grew like crazy.

She passed away on March 28, 2013.

She lived her life with grace and dignity, and she passed away with grace and dignity.

Grief and Faith

Ric Hansen:How did your faith help you through all of that and help her through all of that?

Mike McCoy:I don't know. I'm still kind of struggling with that, to tell you the truth.

Grief is something else.

At first I thought, "I'm this big Christian guy. I'm out there preaching the Word. I'm doing full-time ministry."

I said, "All right, I've got to go on with life."

I didn't let the grieving process happen.

It cost me emotionally and in some other ways.

I'm doing a lot better now, even though it's years down the road.

Friends came around me. My family came around me. And, of course, my faith.

My biggest hope was that I knew where she was.

I knew she was in the presence of Jesus.

She was out of pain. No more pain. No more tears.

I know at some point, when I'm called home, I'll see her.

That aspect of my faith really helped me.

Then I got busy.

I just started going, going, going.

Then I crashed a little bit.

After a couple of years, things started evening out.

Angel on Ice

Ric Hansen:Were you asking, "Where is God? Why isn't He responding to our prayers for healing?"

Mike McCoy:No, none of that.

You have to trust Him.

Very few people are healed when you look at the number of people who die as Christians.

There are some, and you hear about it.

That's God's providence. That's up to Him.

What happened with my wife is that she journaled.

She had journals all over the house.

My son started reading them.

A friend of mine, Larry Schrader, said, "Why don't you write a book?"

I said, "I'm not writing a book."

My son Caleb said, "Well, Dad, I'll do it."

He was working full-time in Christian ministry in France at a camp called Camp of the Peaks.

He took a couple of months off, got the journals and wrote the book, Angel on Ice.

Then he developed a website called AngelOnIce.com.

I thought it was going to be a big hit, so I ordered 5,000 copies.

I said, "Okay, God. Here we go."

What happened is your friends and family buy copies, and after that it kind of dwindled.

I don't know why. I had a marketing person, but probably not the right one.

Then we got a call from the Cancer Society.

They asked if we could come to walk-a-thons, set up a booth and give books away to cancer patients and their families because they had read the book.

That's what we did.

We gave away probably 4,000 books in five or six years.

Ric Hansen:Wow.

Mike McCoy:We still have some left.

It's also available digitally.

God used that.

God used her life.

I always tell my close friends, "I think Jesus liked Kia so much that He wanted to bring her home so He could hang with her, because she was that sweet of a person."

That's my McCoy theology.

A Possible Film of Kia's Story

Mike McCoy:Ronna Barrett from Media Lightworks looked at the book about two years ago and sent us a contract.

A friend of mine, Bob Madnut from California, said, "Mike, they're tying you up forever."

I couldn't sign it because Mike McCoy Ministries owns the rights.

They also contacted my son because he's trying to become an actor.

That's a tough business.

They've sent the story out to producers and executive producers who could come up with the money to film it.

A Moment in Rome

Mike McCoy:There's another story.

We went to Rome in mid-February.

Kia's sister Monica said, "Let's go to Rome."

I said, "Come on."

I'd always wanted to go to Rome.

We asked the cancer doctor, and he said sure.

We went with our two oldest granddaughters, my sister-in-law and her husband.

We figured we'd go to the Vatican, and I had some seminarian friends who were going to take us on a tour.

We thought nobody would be there in February.

Well, that was the day Pope Benedict resigned.

There were about a quarter of a million people in St. Peter's Square.

The seminarians got us right up front.

My two granddaughters went with them, so they got right up front in the middle.

Here comes Benedict in his Popemobile.

He came right up and stopped in front of us.

I had to move my foot because he was going to run it over.

Kia was looking at him, and he looked at her.

Someone handed him a baby and he kissed the baby, and then he went off.

One of our seminarian friends found a picture from the side.

Kia was sitting over here.

The Popemobile is bright, and everything else is dark.

You can hardly see me.

My wife is bright.

I said, "Wow."

That was a powerful picture.

God sent some really interesting things.

The Clock

Mike McCoy:I'll tell you another story.

The first year they went to France to skate with her sister, and some of my kids went.

They were sitting at a table, and a gentleman came up and gave Kia a daffodil.

She saw that as a sign from her dad because he loved daffodils.

They also bought a clock.

It was just a circular clock with a base. It was gold and didn't even work.

We put it in our master bedroom for a year or a year and a half.

Kia passed away at five o'clock on March 28.

She was on hospice at home.

I had to make the call.

Then my sister Monica said, "Go. We'll clean everything up."

I went to the clubhouse where we lived.

I'd been up for 24 or 25 hours.

I went back in, and Monica said, "Mike, look at the clock."

I said, "Monica, the clock never worked."

She said, "Look at the clock."

It was 5:01.

She died at 5:01.

Ric Hansen:Wow.

God speaks in amazing ways.

Mike McCoy:I've got some more stories, but I think our time is probably—

From Professional Football to Ministry

Ric Hansen:We've talked a lot of football, but most of your life, other than the reflections on the football years, has been totally a service to God.

I'm 74 years old.

So tell me about that post-football era. You were with Bill Glass.

Mike McCoy:When I got out of the league, we moved back to Pennsylvania.

I was a managing partner of a racquetball club.

I also had a veal farm. I was raised in kosher veal.

This was during the Jimmy Carter era, and things were pretty tough.

Then I found out the veal business was run by the mafia.

I probably shouldn't say that because they may come after me.

I said, "I've got to get out of this."

I had the racquetball court.

Then I took a test to get my license to sell stocks and bonds.

I flunked the test.

I'm an economics graduate from Notre Dame, and I flunked the test.

I'll never forget sitting in this little farmhouse crying.

I said, "Okay, I flunked the test."

My wife said, "Take it again."

She never gave me any slack.

Ric Hansen:No sympathy at all.

Mike McCoy:None.

I took it again and passed.

Then I worked for a company selling salary-reduction programs to nonprofits like hospitals.

I did very well with that.

Then Doc called me in 1986.

He said, "This culture's going to hell. We want to take some former pro athletes, and here's the salary. Do you want to go?"

My wife and I prayed about it.

Our son was in third or fourth grade.

My wife took a job to help support the family, and I went full-time with Doc in 1986.

In 1989 I moved to Atlanta.

Then in 1991 another door closed with Doc.

Bill Glass called me.

He said, "We're looking for somebody to take over the youth program. We're a prison ministry and really don't have a youth program."

It was a natural fit for me.

I continued to train pros and go into public schools, and I started the Catholic school outreach.

I was on staff for 19 years.

The Call to Catholic Schools

Mike McCoy:Then 2007–2008 hit and the downturn came.

I had turned down moving to Dallas three times.

I knew that wasn't me.

I needed to be on the field. I wasn't going to sit in an office and just run the ministry.

That's fine for some people, but that wasn't my gift.

Thank God I knew that, because I would have crashed and burned if I had done that.

Then they laid off 50% of the staff in two weeks.

I'm 60 years old.

I'm sitting in Marin County, still under the umbrella of Bill Glass, doing a Catholic school program.

I had just finished with Marin County Catholic, and I still didn't have the word that we were going to be laid off.

I sensed it.

I said, "God, it would be kind of interesting if I just spoke in Catholic schools."

Then I heard a voice.

I'd never heard a voice from God before.

The Holy Spirit usually speaks to our hearts.

But I heard, "Go ahead and do it."

I was shocked.

I turned around to make sure nobody was in the back seat.

Ric Hansen:Really?

Mike McCoy:Yeah.

I came back to Atlanta, and my good friend Monty Johnson helped me organize the ministry with my board and get some funding.

Off I've gone.

It's been 11 years now.

We reach students in Catholic schools with a message of faithful encouragement through two programs.

The first is for grades three through five: The Value and Worth of a Person Through God's Eyes.

These young people are getting the culture, and I'm trying to teach them in a 40-minute assembly who they are in Christ.

I put in funny stories from when I was growing up—snowballing, getting beat up by kids and things like that.

The other program is for grades six through twelve: Decisions Determine Our Destiny.

That's an hour-long program.

We have comment cards and feedback time.

Then we ask the kids to stand if they want to pray to receive Christ.

I was at an assembly last Wednesday at a Catholic school in the middle of Wisconsin.

Four hundred twenty-five kids stood up and prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior.

I think there is a revival going on.

I think this generation is like the hippie generation.

They may not dress like hippies, but they're still searching.

Their faith isn't working for them. The culture isn't working for them.

"Am I a man or a woman? What's going on?"

When I hear truth and unconditional love, that's what got me.

I couldn't earn or deserve God's love.

That's what did it for me.

It's called grace.

I talk about grace in those assemblies.

We get these comment cards, and I read student comments from Catholic students over the last eight or nine years.

They range from suicide, cutting and depression to family problems, drugs and alcohol.

Then I also get comments from students saying, "I'm clean. I've got good friends."

It balances out.

Why Catholic Schools?

Ric Hansen:Your decision to focus on Catholic schools—is that just because you've got to focus?

Mike McCoy:I used to do public schools, but it's so difficult now that for the last 15 years I haven't even tried.

You say, "I'm going to talk about chapel."

"Oh, you're going to talk about God?"

I said, "Yeah."

So I go where I can go where I can preach.

I also do parishes and youth groups because a lot of those kids are public-school students.

I like to quote John Paul II.

He said, "Do not fear. Open your heart to Christ."

Conversion is a personal decision—accepting the saving sovereignty of Christ and His grace and becoming His follower.

It's a choice we make.

Then we take that and build the foundation of that relationship through our faith.

And they get it.

They get it.

Mike McCoy's Life Verse

Ric Hansen:Do you have a life verse or Scripture verse?

Mike McCoy:There are tons of them.

Galatians 2:20:

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

It's not me.

It's called the exchange life.

Dr. Anderson—I read his books, and they were great.

I was burned out with ministry.

I thought, "This is terrible. I'm out there raising funds. I'm tired. My family's tired."

I was trying, trying, trying.

Then I finally understood grace.

I realized I'm just a conduit.

It's not up to me.

God's going to get it done.

I'm not going to get it done.

I just put the worms out there, and He brings the worms home.

That's been a real—

I still struggle sometimes when I look at my schedule for the fall.

I say, "Okay, Lord, I need a couple more."

Ric Hansen:And it actually happens.

Mike McCoy:Yeah.

Closing

Ric Hansen:Very cool.

Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us.

God bless what you're doing.

I'd love to keep in touch just to find out what you're doing.

Mike McCoy:We're trying to get out to Seattle.

Ric Hansen:Yes. I'm just outside Seattle, about 30 miles—60 miles south of Seattle.

Mike McCoy:If anybody's in Seattle and knows Justina King or Pam Schwartz from the Catholic Diocese office for schools, I've been calling them.

If anybody has a good relationship with those two ladies, I'd love to network.

It's McCoy77.com and AngelOnIce.com.

You'd be blessed by going to Angel on Ice.

Ric Hansen:Thank you so much for your time.

Mike McCoy:Thank you.

Ric Hansen:All right. Have a great rest of your day.

Bye-bye.

Wow.

There you have it—the Mike McCoy story. The highlights, the challenges and the powerful impact that God has made through it all.

Please take a minute to share, subscribe and like this episode of Amazing Greats, as together we continue to grow the podcast and share the Word.

God bless.