Published: May 07, 2008 12:26 am            

COLUMN: MSN’s John McKinney will be missed

MORGANTOWN — John McKinney, who died of a heart attack at 59 last Sunday, had an unusual hobby.

It was to collect sports caps with different names on them. And the number has to be several thousand because of his position as engineer for the Mountaineer Sports Network the past 31 years.

The Morgantown native bought caps in every city West Virginia University played football and basketball games away from home. And, as a result, you almost never saw McKinney without a cap on his head.

“I have boxes after boxes after boxes,” he said during an interview in 2003. “I have about 2,500 caps now and still collecting ’em.”

McKinney had a lot of friends, including numerous people in the media, and when they heard about that hobby, began giving him caps for his collection. He hadn’t decided what to do with them the last time I talked with him.

This grand gentleman was a hard-working, kind person who was not only committed solidly to the West Virginia Radio Corp., his longtime employer, but to WVU’s Mountaineer Sports Network.

Despite the long days and nights he put in, McKinney has said he wouldn’t trade his vast experiences for anything else. He literally loved what he did for MSN and flagship station WAJR.

Dale Miller, his longtime boss, thought highly of him and his work. So did all those around him, especially the announcers for whom he made sure everything was right before they went on the air.

The late Jack Fleming, Voice of the Mountaineers, and Tony Caridi, the current play-by-play announcer, were big admirers of their engineer. They and others always mentioned John McKinney’s name prominently among credits.

But listeners never saw his face, even were a game on television.

Woody O’Hara, who has retired after some 35 years as a member of the MSN broadcast crew, and Jim Galusky, who’s still a team video specialist, were two of his closest friends. The three frequently roomed together on trips.

Mike Parsons, WVU deputy director of athletics, said McKinney took great pride in his work for MSN and in the student-athletes he watched perform all those years.

“We put a lot into our network and I believe it’s the best in the country,” Parsons said.

“So many people are involved with it. And we’re proud of the quality it has. We can say all that. But if everything isn’t running, equipment not working, phone lines not functioning, the broadcast is not going to happen.

“That’s why what John McKinney did was so vital to MSN.”

He’s going to be sorely missed. But John Jr. had begun following in his father’s footsteps a few years ago.

        

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