Burlington Free Press boys athlete of the year: BBA's Joey McCoy

The final game of Joey McCoy's freshman year hinted at what was to come: As Burr and Burton Academy's starting right fielder he logged multiple hits in a runaway win over Essex for the Division I high school baseball championship at hallowed Centennial Field.

No moment or venue was too big.

"Nervous as could be, thought he would throw up," BBA coach Ed Lewicki recalled. "But goes out with a clutch performance."

Since that precocious rookie season, several other traits emerged. McCoy's competitive thirst created a hunger for preparation. His talents across three seasons fostered a perfectionist's ambitions. Experience brought perspective and wisdom.

All of it brought success — on and off the field.

"He'd be a star wherever he played, I don't care if it was in a school with a graduating class of 500 or 100," Lewicki said. "He'd be a star anywhere." 

The Bulldogs can be thankful McCoy wound up wearing the green and gold. Opponents? Not so much.

The 6-foot-2 senior's dazzling season on the gridiron produced an historic state championship and a sweep of player of the year accolades and his winter on skates garnered all-state honors. Stack it up and there's little room to debate McCoy's latest title, the Free Press' boys athlete of the year. 

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"I've always said he's been an overachiever. He's not the biggest kid or the fastest kid or the strongest kid but he works the hardest. He's a grinder," said Tom McCoy, his father and football coach at BBA. "He's always the first to get there, last to leave, always in the weight room and always positive." 

Just don't ask the Hobart College commit for a one-word answer on which sport he likes best.

"I've been playing football, hockey and baseball ever since I was four or five. It's almost a lifestyle for me — I don't really know anything else," Joey McCoy said. "Whatever season I'm in is my favorite sport."

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Last fall, the McCoy-led Bulldogs captured their second straight football championship, this time storming through the Division I ranks behind the younger McCoy's jaw-dropping season that scored him Free Press and Gatorade MVP nods.

The dual-threat quarterback accounted for 3,930 yards of offense and 56 touchdowns in 10 games, completing 62% of his passes against just five interceptions. On defense, he amassed 100 tackles and three interceptions from the secondary.

McCoy piloted BBA, a D-II program until last season, past the traditional powers in the state's top division and capped off the run with a 531-yard, five-TD performance in a 47-20 championship rout of unbeaten St. Johnsbury.

More:Burr and Burton conquers St. Johnsbury, Division I for back-to-back football crowns

 "Being the underdog through all those memories was really special," McCoy said. 

"We were counted out moving up to D-I and all those guys stepping up that night — beating St. J by a large margin, it just felt good," McCoy said.

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Fifteen goals and 13 assists gave McCoy the No. 1 spot on the BBA scoring charts and a first-team all-league spot in D-II boys hockey. That adds up, considering he had started for the squad since he was a freshman.

The surprising thing is McCoy didn't play hockey all four years. A sophomore sabbatical with the varsity boys basketball team, to play alongside his older brother Jay, disrupted that streak — not that anyone could tell. Copious film study, usually three to four hours a week, according to his hockey coach, Mark Slade, meant his mind was as sharp as his skates and his stick skills.

"It was like he never left," Slade said. "He came back to practice on Day 1 and outskated everyone. Not only speed-wise but hustle."

And in the playoffs this year it was his second goal of the quarterfinals, a power-play tally with less than 2 minutes to play, that gave No. 7 BBA an upset over two-time defending champion Woodstock.

More:Vermont coaches' 2020 all-league boys and girls hockey teams

"My team worked so hard, we all wanted to beat Woodstock so bad," McCoy said. "That's the reason why you play sports, to create memories and experiences like that."

And if McCoy, like the rest of the state, had gotten to play baseball this year it's not much of a stretch to think the Bulldogs' ace and No. 3 hitter would've picked up where he left off. As a junior, he went 7-0 with an ERA below 1.

"A lot of people forget how good at baseball he was," Lewicki said. "Man was he really good on the mound."

Lewicki won't. Nor will he soon forget McCoy founding and coaching the school's Unified basketball program — a Special Olympics-sponsored sport that teams up individuals with and without intellectual disabilities — even when it meant missing some baseball practices last year.

That season started with a buzzer-beating win over Brattleboro that McCoy said he cherishes as much as any of his own highlights.

"If you see him interact with his Unified basketball team, how much those basketball players love Joey McCoy because he treats them like he treats everyone else, that to me speaks loudest," Slade said. "He makes them feel like they're winning the state championship every single time they play."

Boys Athletes of the Year

2020: Joey McCoy, Burr and Burton

2019: Patrick Burke, Mount Mansfield

2018: Kevin Garrison, Burlington

2017: Tyler Marshall, Champlain Valley

2016: Andy Kenosh, Rutland

2015: Alec Eschholz, Mount Mansfield

2014: Tommy Fitzgerald, Rice

2013: Matt St. Amour, Missisquoi

2012: Matt St. Amour, Missisquoi

2011: Christian McCormick, Rice

Contact Austin Danforth at 651-4851 or edanforth@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @eadanforth.

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