Quarterback Jim McMahon Leads BYU In The Last Four Minutes Of The 1980 Holiday Bowl: Quite Possibly The Greatest Example Of Leadership You'll Ever Read From The World Of Sports

An excerpt by GeoMak at Windy City Gridiron:

Jim was a born leader. As a sophomore at BYU, Jim McMahon replaced starter Marc Wilson who had gotten injured. As teammate Clay Brown recalled: "Jim came in with so much confidence, it was like he had been there for ten years."

Bill Ring: "I have a lot of respect for Marc Wilson and he was a terrific QB, but competitiveness was what really separated Jim from Marc."

Jim’s leadership skills were never more evident than in the 1980 Holiday Bowl, where BYU overcame a 20 point deficit against SMU with only four minutes remaining to win the game. Key play in that game? In the fourth quarter, BYU faced a 4th and two near midfield. HC LaVell Edwards sent in the punting unit and McMahon refused to come out of the game. Refused to come out!

McMahon sent the punter off the field. Edwards called a timeout. Jim told his offense to stay on the field and he then went to the sideline where he started yelling at Edwards: "What? Are you giving up? That’s BullS---!"

Edwards: "The guy was upset to no end, so I said ‘OK, go back in and we’ll go for it.’"

BYU converted the fourth down and eventually won the game on a Hail Mary pass on the games final play.

(BYU scored 21 points in the final 2 ½ minutes of that game).

Going over to yell at your HC for attempting to throw in the towel, to wave the white flag, to just give up? That’s leadership, and that’s why his teammates at BYU and in Chicago loved him. With Jim under center, his guys always felt like they were in the game. They won that game because of QB Jim McMahon and in spite of HC LaVell Edwards.

Comments

[Bruce Oksol]

I apologize if I should know this, but any relation between the two McMahons: "Tom" and "Jim"?

[Tom McMahon]

No relation. Also no relation to Ed McMahon. And even tho Ed McMahon had been on the Tonight Show for 20 years by that point, it wasn't until Jim McMahon came along that people learned how to pronounce my last name correctly. So I'll always like the guy, just for that.