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Aided by CHS brethren, he turns injury into inspiration

Monroe McKay’s dream of playing college football looks like it’s coming true

Published: June 2, 2016   

By Dwain Hebda
Little Rock Correspondent

Dwain Hebda
Monroe McKay arrives for the last finals week of his Catholic High School career. McKay rebounded from a broken back as a sophomore to land a football scholarship with Rhodes College in Memphis.

When Monroe McKay crossed Catholic High’s threshold four years ago, it added to the lineage of brotherhood experienced there by so many over the years.

“It’s hard to explain,” he said. “It’s amazing to see a bunch of high school kids come together and develop traits of character and integrity.”

McKay, a member of Christ the King Church in Little Rock, recites these attributes in tones reserved for those who have seen them in action. During a football game his sophomore year, a nasty hit landed him in the emergency room. The diagnosis — a broken back — hit him even harder.

“It was very …” he said, “I think devastating would be the right word.”

Miraculously, the damage wasn’t permanent (“They said I broke it in the best place possible, if you can do that,” he chuckled) and, determined to be in pads for the opening game of junior year, McKay dove into rehab and training as soon as allowed.

“It had always been my dream to play football at the next level,” he said. “Once I had that injury, it’s a devastating moment, but after a while I started thinking I could turn this disadvantage into an advantage. I started working out as much as I could every day. I wanted to build my body back up to where I would never be in that situation again.”

Along the way, he rediscovered what family was all about. The third of six children, he strove to be independent in the McKay herd, something that went out the window during his recuperation.

“I’d have to call my parents to come put my socks on because I couldn’t bend down,” he said. “Being in a state where you have to be completely dependent on people really makes you think about small things that I took for granted every day.”

The Catholic High bond was another of those things. Returning to school after the injury, he’d ask random classmates for help carrying his books up the stairs and was astonished that soon, he didn’t even have to ask. Fellow students came by the house; upperclassmen would check on him and boost his spirits. The memory of such gestures leaves him struggling for words.

“It showed me how much these people cared about me,” he said. “It’s more than just being a classmate, it’s being a brother to someone and being there to help someone out no matter the cost and giving up your time for someone else. It really spoke to me.

“I mean, they’re teenagers and these guys are trying to help me out any way they can, which really showed me how Catholic matured them and helped them grow in their integrity and compassion for others.”

McKay was on the field for that opening game and this year reached another bigger milestone, signing a letter of intent to play football at Rhodes College in Memphis. There, he’ll study in the sciences en route to becoming a doctor.  

“If I could … be able to help people get back to their normal lifestyles and make them appreciate so many things that I took for granted and that many people take for granted every day, that would be a huge accomplishment,” he said.

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