Troy University Athletics
Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2021
A leader on and off the golf course for the Troy men’s golf program during his tenure with the Trojans, Collin McCrary set the table early in his career for how he would be remembered by his teammates and coaches. Now, some 40 years later, his former head coach bestowed on him one of the highest compliments a young man can receive.
“I’ve had the fortune in my 36 years of coaching to say this about very few of my former players,” Troy University Sports Hall of Fame member Mike Griffin said. “I am very quick to say that Collin is the son I never had. I say that very seriously. He was one of those special players that you get in your coaching career – he was uniquely special and stood out in a lot of different ways.”
On the course, McCray’s accolades speak for themselves. He helped lead Troy to four straight Gulf South championships, and McCrary finished second at the 1983 NCAA Division II National Championship to earn All-America honors.
The road from Georgia High School Golfer of the Year honors at Southland Academy in Americus, Ga., to All-American following his senior year at Troy did not come without a bout of adversity. One of the top players on Griffin’s 1982 squad, McCrary sat out the NCAA Championship that season due a strategic decision by Griffin based on the layout of the championship course.
“I had to make the gut-wrenching decision to leave Collin at home,” Griffin said. “It was a lot tougher on me than it was on him, but the next year it came full circle.”
The Trojans were tasked with another difficult golf course the following year and this time in the mountainous region of Southwest Pennsylvania. McCrary was in the lineup that week, and he held the lead following 36 holes and ended the week in second place.
“He was able to look at me in the face at the end of that week and say, ‘I told you so’ without even having to utter a word,” Griffin laughed.
It was that type of fire that pushed McCrary from the beginning when he joined the Trojans squad as a freshman. He joined a Troy team that was loaded with All-Americans and established players, but that was not an obstacle for the young McCrary, rather a challenge he was willing to attack head-on.
“He was not big in terms of his physical stature when he came to us,” Griffin said. “But he was a young man who loved the game of golf. He played with a different energy and was one of the most competitive players I ever coached. He came into a team that was blessed with a lot of talented golfers and worked his way into the lineup. Collin played with his brain and had a great feel for the game. It came quickly to me that his competitiveness was his best quality, and he wouldn’t back down from anything – he was a bulldog.”
McCrary earned multiple All-Gulf South honors in his career, and he shot Troy’s lowest round of the 1983 season with a 68 at the Southeastern Intercollegiate, which featured the likes of Ohio State and Alabama. McCrary was consistently at the top of the leaderboard during his Troy career and helped lead the Trojans to five team titles during the 1981 season.
“Anywhere from 100 yards in, he was deadly,” Griffin said. “They say that good putting is the great equalizer, and Collin was a great putter. His short game was strong, and he was amazing with an iron in his hand. He wouldn’t try and overpower the golf course, so he was always playing from the fairway. He was a good player because he just wanted to beat you and no matter what he was going to find a way to beat you … two down with three holes to play, you’re still in trouble against him.”
Following his career at Troy, which saw him graduate with a degree in business and finance, McCrary has gone on to a very successful professional career as a financial advisor. Additionally, McCrary found his calling on the television side of the golf game where he has worked with NBC for years as a course spotter at some of the game’s biggest events.
