McInally May Have Retired From Football, but He Isn’t Standing Pat

There are times in the average National Football League training camp when the plight of the punter stirs memories of playground days and the kid waiting for the day for his older brother to invite him to play with the big guys.

The punter is given a bag of balls, sent off to some remote corner of the practice field, and told to kick a few around while the real players have all the fun.

It was in this relative solitude that Pat McInally decided to take his ball and go home.

After 10 seasons as a punter/wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, the first Harvard man in 34 years to become a collegiate All-American decided to find something else to do with his hang time. On July 27, three days after reporting to the Bengals’ training camp at Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio, McInally announced his retirement at the age of 33.

“This past off-season, I didn’t know whether I was going to play this year or not,” he said. “But I was determined I was going to work harder than ever and at least give myself the option. I came to camp in the best shape I’ve been in in some time, and I was punting well. But on the third day of camp, I decided it was time to move on.

“I was just basically walking around practice and I decided there were better things to do with my time at this point in my life. Football had opened a lot of doors for me. I just decided I wanted to walk all the way through those doors, and this was the time to do it.”

As with any career move, the decision involved an element of risk. Friends and family wondered if McInally was doing the right thing. Some were stunned. “I think everyone was real sad,” he said in a recent phone interview. “It was like part of my persona died. But, ultimately, I was going to have to leave anyway. And I wanted the decision to be mine.”

McInally said he was simply following his instincts, as he had when he decided to attend Harvard out of Villa Park High School in 1971. It had worked then, he reasoned. And so far, it appears to have worked again.

On the drive back from Wilmington to his home in Cincinnati, McInally jokingly told his wife, Leslie, that the phone would be ringing off the hook with job offers once word of his retirement got around.

McInally announced his retirement between practice sessions on a Sunday afternoon. On Monday morning, ESPN called to discuss a position as color commentator for their college football games. He was in New York last week to work out the details, and will be seen on the cable sports network this fall. “I called my parents and told them that I’ll still be on TV,” he said. “Now, they’ll have to watch every play instead of every fourth down.”

This won’t be McInally’s first non-playing appearance before the cameras. During the off-season last year, he did short, sports-related features for WKRC-TV, the ABC affiliate in Cincinnati. It was that experience that McInally figures landed him the job with ESPN. He also writes a syndicated sports advice column that appears in more than 100 newspapers. So, he’s not particularly affected when he hears or reads Howard Cosell’s criticism of former athletes who retire to the broadcast booth.

“I understand, to a degree, Howard’s position,” he said. “I know there are a lot of professional people who have paid their dues-both educationally and professionally--and can’t get work. And here I am, out of the blue, getting an incredible opportunity.

“At the same time, there were just as many writers and journalists who were shocked that my column was appearing in some of the top papers in the country. But I think there’s an insight that an athlete can provide. And hopefully I can present it professionally. There are a lot of ex-athletes leaving the booth, too. If you can’t do the job, there’s not going to be much tolerance.”

McInally always could be counted on to do his job with the Bengals. His pro career had to be put on hold for a year when he broke his leg after catching a touchdown pass from Steve Bartkowski in the 1975 College All-Star game. He spent the ensuing season on the injured-reserve list. Once healthy, he became one of the NFL’s most consistent punters, and a pretty fair backup receiver.

In 1985, McInally ranked 10th in the NFL with an average of 42.3 yards per punt. Over 10 seasons, he had 698 punts that covered 29,307 yards, an average of 42 yards per kick. He led the league in 1978 (45.4) and 1976 (43.1). He also caught 57 passes for 809 yards and 5 touchdowns. In 1981, he participated in the turnaround in which then-Bengal Coach Forrest Gregg led a team that went 6-10 in 1980 to a 12-4 record and an appearance in Super Bowl XVI. The Bengals lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 26-21, but McInally said that season remains one of his fondest football memories.

But while wandering around in a punter’s pasture one Sunday afternoon, McInally decided he had reached an age where he should find another line of work. “I was the second-oldest guy on the team,” he said. “And (quarterback Ken) Anderson shouldn’t count, because he started with leather helmets.”