Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1986
- Class:
- 1932
No one in the history of West Virginia has done more to promote track and field than Marshall’s Ray McCoy. Recruited to Marshall by Coach Trusty Tallman, McCoy helped the 1928 team – the team that earned the nickname “Thundering Herd” from Huntington sportswriter Duke Ridgley – to an 8-1-1 record and West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title. He caught a 35-yard touchdown pass out of punt formation during a 6-0 win over Wittenburg College along the way. A successful halfback, quarterback and punter despite weighing only 137 pounds, McCoy played three seasons of football and also was a member of the school’s first wrestling team in 1929.
After graduating from Marshall, McCoy became a teacher and coach at Huntington High School, and rose to legendary status for his work with the school’s track and field program. McCoy’s Pony Express won eight West Virginia track and field state titles between 1938 and 1967, and also won state cross country crowns in 1961 and 1962. Today’s Huntington High School runs on the Ray McCoy Track and hosts the Ray McCoy Invitational, and the Ray McCoy Award goes annually to the best amateur track and field athlete in West Virginia. McCoy was inducted into the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 and that same year was enshrined on the Huntington Wall of Fame. He was inducted into the Marshall Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986.
