Bill McKalip ’26

“Wild Bill” McKalip played football for Tech at a glorious time. The 1926 Scribe Annual yearbook proclaimed, “Once again Tech’s grid warriors succeeded in romping off with the OAL football championship. This makes the fourth football championship for Tech in as many years… The whole team worked like a machine which probably contributes much to its victorious season.” Of McKalip, it noted, “Bill McKalip, half, was the safety man, and he filled the position to perfection. Running back punts was his specialty.”

He went on to play college football from 1928 to 1930 at Oregon State University where he was an all-Pacific Coast Conference halfback and end and was named All American in 1930. He then played four seasons with the N.F.L., two with the Portsmouth, Ohio, Spartans and two after they became the Detroit Lions. He was a two-time All-Pro selection in 1931 and 1934. From 1937 to 1941, he was an assistant coach at OSU. McKalip is enshrined in the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and the Oregon State Athletics Hall of Fame.

He stayed in Corvalis where he died in 1981 at the age of 86.