As you may know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are in the process of ranking every major North American sports franchise and how they handle their own Halls of Fame, Retired Numbers etc. Once done, we will take a look at the major University Football and Basketball teams, and as such we thought we take a look at BYU, who has announced that former Quarterback, Jim McMahon will have his number retired and enter the school’s Hall of Fame.
Used as a Punter in his Freshman Year, McMahon took over the role as the team’s starting Quarterback when regular QB Marc Wilson went down with an injury in his second year in BYU. He would lose it back to Wilson when he returned from injury and McMahon was himself injured in the off season and he was redshirted in 1979. Wilson would go on to have a great season, but McMahon would be back following Wilson’s graduation.
Now as the undisputed starter of the Brigham Young offence, Jim McMahon set a plethora of records in 1980, the most notable being Passing Yards (4,571), Touchdown Passes (47) and Efficiency Rating (176.9) and was named the WAC Player of the Year. McMahon also finished fifth in Heisman Trophy balloting and was named to the All-America team. Individual accolades are nice, but the pivot was about to pull off one of the most dramatic comebacks in Bowl history.
In that seasons Holiday Bowl, McMahon led his team back from 20 points down with four minutes left to go against a powerful SMU team in what was called by the BYU faithful as the “Miracle Bowl”.
The following season, McMahon played two less games due to injuries, but was an even more efficient passer. He won the Sammy Baugh Award and Davey O’Brien Trophy and was again an All American, and finished third in Heisman balloting. He would repeat as a Holiday Bowl champion, this time defeating Washington State.
Finishing his College career with 9,536 Passing Yards and 84 Touchdown Passes, McMahon was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999. McMahon was ten credits short of his BYU degree when he left to turn professional, but he recently completed his degree. The BYU Hall of Fame states that completion of a degree must occur before a student-athlete can be considered for their Hall.
McMahon becomes the sixth player to have his number retired by BYU, joining Eldon Fortie, Steve Young, Ty Detmer, Marion Probert and Gifford Nielson.
We would like to congratulate Jim McMahon for obtaining this impressive accolade.
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