Bob McKellar (1973) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Bob McKellar

Induction:
1973

Bob McKellar was one of the truly fine ends in the history of Southern Miss football. At 6-1, 195 he possessed the size , speed and quickness along with great hands to make himself a wonderful target for the quarterbacks he played with.
   McKellar was one of those players that just seemed to have a knack for playing the game of football, an instinct to be in the right place at the right time. He had a wonderful knowledge of the game and used it to his advantage to help the team win some key games, while playing both ways from 1950 to 1952.
   He was the type of player that just seemed to fit into what Coach Pie Vann was trying to do. Not a flashy type player, but the kind of player that you could count on when you needed a big play. Time and time again in his career he would make a key catch for the team or throw a big block to free a ball carrier.
   He came to Southern Miss from the town of Plain Dealing, Louisiana where he had a tremendous high school career. His career at Southern Miss began in 1950 where in his first year he was a part of a team that finished the year with a 5-5 record. McKellar was the fifth leading pass receiver on that team catching five passes for 40 yards.
   Although the coaches knew that he had the ability to catch the football, McKellar also proved during that first season that he was a tremendous blocker and he used those skills to help open up running lanes for backs like Hall of Famers Bubba Phillips and Morris Brown.
   McKellar began the team’s leading receiver in 1951 when he helped lead the team to a 6-5 record and the Gulf States Conference Championship. He caught 23 passes that year for 385 yards and two touchdowns as he was the favorite target of quarterback Tom LeGros. That Southern Miss offense was one of the most explosive in school history, averaging over 30 points and nearly 400 yards a game.
   McKellar caught nearly a third of the passes completed by the team that season.
   In 1952 McKellar again was the leading pass receiver on ton a team that would go 10-2 and earn a berth in the Sun Bowl against The College of the Pacific. He would make 22 catches that year for 379 yards and five touchdowns and this time nearly caught half of the passes completed that year by the team. That team was almost impossible to stop on offense averaging 457.5 yards a game and five times that year scoring over 40 points.
   McKellar would finish his three-year career with 50 pass receptions for 804 yards (16.1 average) and seven touchdowns.
   When McKellar finished his three-year career at Southern Miss only one player had ever caught more passes than he had, Cliff Coggin. It would be several years before anyone would pass him in the all-time pass receiving stats.
   McKellar was a leader, both on and off the field for Southern Miss and his many contributions are still remember today by the coaches, players and fans.