Bob McKay, the former New England Patriots offensive tackle who later was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, died Thursday. He was 78.
McKay spent the final three seasons of a nine-year NFL career with the Patriots after arriving in 1976. He finished his playing days following the 1978 season, closing out a professional run that began in Cleveland and ended in New England.
The Patriots put him to work immediately. In 1976, McKay started all 14 regular-season games at right tackle and helped New England reach the playoffs. He started that postseason game as well, one of three playoff starts in his NFL career.
Those 1976 Patriots finished 11-3 under coach Chuck Fairbanks and became one of the more productive teams of the decade in New England. McKay’s line work came in a season when the club ranked among the league’s stronger rushing offenses.
His role changed after that first year in Foxborough. McKay appeared in 12 games with three starts in 1977, then played 12 more games in 1978 without a start. Across three Patriots seasons, he appeared in 38 regular-season games and made 17 starts.
Over his full NFL career, McKay played in 105 regular-season games and started 71. Both of his teams reached the playoffs during his tenure. He started postseason games in 1971 and 1972 with the Browns and again in 1976 with New England.
The Cleveland Browns selected him 21st overall in the 1970 draft. He spent six seasons there before the Patriots acquired him on April 8, 1976. He wore No. 78 in Cleveland and No. 66 in New England.
McKay’s reputation was already set before he reached the NFL. He was a first-team All-American, a national champion and later a College Football Hall of Fame inductee whose path started in the small West Texas town of Crane.
He was inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame in 2012 for his work at Crane High School, where he starred at end for the Golden Cranes and earned second-team all-state honors. Darrell Royal’s Texas program recruited him to Austin in 1966.
He developed into a 6-foot-5, 260-pound offensive tackle and became one of the key pieces on the Longhorns’ late-1960s teams. McKay played his final two college seasons in 1968 and 1969, helping Texas go 20-1-1, win two Southwest Conference championships and claim two Cotton Bowl victories.
In 1969, Texas went 11-0, won the national championship and finished the season with a 21-17 victory over Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. McKay was a consensus first-team All-American and All-Southwest Conference selection that year.
Behind McKay and the rest of the offensive line, the 1969 Longhorns outscored opponents 435-119. The team led the Football Bowl Subdivision in rushing offense at 363 yards per game and in scoring offense at 33.8 points per game.
He was the first player from Texas’ 1969 national championship team inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, entering in 2017. He also joined the University of Texas Hall of Honor in 1990.
After football, McKay returned to private business in Austin and worked in commercial sales. He remained involved with the NFL Children’s Benefit and CASH of Austin. No cause of death was announced.
For Patriots fans who remember the mid-1970s teams, McKay was part of a short but meaningful chapter: a first-round college star who started every game in his first New England season and helped the club back into the playoffs.
