Champion and Leader

It was a quarter century ago that Kyle McCann, a 6-foot-6 honor student at Creston High School, was finishing his senior football season for the Panthers and setting a career passing yardage record that stands today.

That winter, the football recruit of University of Iowa coach Hayden Fry took his talents to the basketball court. He and fellow backcourt mate Ben Gerleman would both earn all-state honors as the Panthers won the school’s first state basketball championship since 1939.

To cap it off, McCann joined his Creston teammates in qualifying for the state golf tournament in the spring of 1997 before graduating near the top of his class.

That was just the start of McCann’s prominence as an athlete, however. He went on to become starting quarterback for the Hawkeyes, leading the first bowl victory for coach Kirk Ferentz in the 2001 Alamo Bowl over Texas Tech. After a free agent appearance in the New York Jets training camp and a season in NFL Europe for the Barcelona Dragons, McCann left football to earn a law degree at Creighton University.

McCann has been an attorney in the Des Moines area since his graduation from Creighton. He and wife Maggie, a Harlan native who ran on the University of Iowa track team, are the parents of three daughters. Maggie earned her law degree from the University of Iowa School of Law in 2005.

This weekend, McCann will earn a new honor. In a ceremony at 11 a.m. Friday at Creston High School in conjunction with the homecoming queen coronation, he will be inducted in the Creston Community High School Hall of Fame. His father, the late Steve McCann, was inducted into the CCHS Hall of Fame in 2018.

In his nomination of his former star quarterback, retired Creston football coach Dick Bergstrom said McCann is the perfect choice as Distinguished Alumni among this year’s induction class.

“Kyle was best known as an outstanding athlete, but he was equally as impressive as a student and a person of character,” Bergstrom stated. “He has been a tremendous representative of our school and community as well as a great role model for our younger students. He is an excellent leader, having been selected by his peers to lead at every level.”

Classmate Todd Stalker, co-owner of Stalker Chevrolet in Creston, concurred with Bergstrom that McCann was the quiet leader in an era of athletic excellence in Creston. An illustrative moment occurred during their junior basketball season, when Creston rallied from an 18-point deficit with 6:18 remaining in a substate game against Pella at Southeast Polk High School.

McCann scored the winning basket with time expiring, breaking off a screen to receive an inbounds pass for a floating shot near the lane.

“Kyle was ‘the guy,’ and it wasn’t up for discussion,” Stalker said. “We had a lot of great players, and Ben couild get us there with his playmaking and talent as well, but at the last second it was Kyle and everyone knew it. He wasn’t vocal about it. People just followed his lead. He was always our quarterback, but when he broke his leg in seventh grade football somebody had to be quarterback, so I was the backup. But when our ninth grade coach asked who the quarterbacks were, we just said Kyle. Unless something happened to him, everyone knew the ball was going to be in his hands every play.”

McCann and the Panthers never got to the UNI-Dome in playoff football, but came extremely close. He engineered a drive inside the Harlan 5-yard line in the final minutes of a playoff game as a junior, but a fumble prevented the Panthers from scoring the winning touchdown. Harlan went on to win the Class 3A state championship after squeaking past Creston, 28-27.

McCann passed for 3,785 yards and 36 touchdowns in his career. He led Class 3A basketball in scoring as both a junior and senior, ending with a school record 1,857 points. He was an invited walk-on on the Hawkeye basketball team coached by Tom Davis as a freshman before concentrating on football the rest of his Iowa career.

Mature mindset

Stalker recalls McCann having an exceptionally mature mindset in high school.

“He took everything seriously and put in the work,” Stalker said. “Sure, it doesn’t hurt to be 6-foot-6, but there aren’t a lot of 6-6 people in the gym every night taking extra shots. He was the best because he worked harder than anyone else. In the huddle or a timeout, he just had a serious look to him. It didn’t matter what he was going to do in life, he was success driven, and now you see that in his profession as an attorney.”

McCann, who was inducted into the Iowa High School Athletic Association Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019, now joins other illustrious alumni, faculty and contributors on his high school’s honor wall.

“I’m honored and excited to be included in this year’s class and I’m looking forward to being back home for homecoming festivities,” McCann said this week. “It’s been awhile since I’ve had an opportunity to do that. It’s a compliment to the coaches and my teammates that I had. I hope that they feel that. We had some great memories together.”

McCann said he grew up in a perfect environment for success in Creston.

“It takes commitment and sacrifice from everybody at all levels for kids to experience success,” McCann said. “That could be everything from teachers and coaches putting in the extra time to help kids, to parents making all of the sacrifices they make financially and from a time standpoint. That all makes a difference in making a better experience for a whole community.”

Lessons learned

Now, he says he and wife Maggie tell their three daughters about the life lessons they both learned through athletics as the girls compete in a variety of activities.

“Maggie and I share that experience with our kids,” McCann said. “We think that an athletic upbringing is great for experiencing some success, but also that there isn’t a better teacher for being able to understand and overcome setbacks and adversity, as well. Growing up and being around the teachers and coaches I was fortunate to have, certainly it taught us a lot about that. We had a great deal of success, but also some bumps along the road. We learned to win and overcome those things, which helped us individually as well. Those are things we still use today in our everyday life.”

Stalker said his boyhood friend remains a positive role model as a fitting addition to the school’s Hall of Fame.

“Kyle is the guy you should try to be,” Stalker said. “We’'re honoring someone who has upheld a life of integrity and has shown what you want in Hall of Fame character,” Stalker said. “Some of us were just goofy kids sometimes, not always making the best decisions. But Kyle always did everything the right way, with a purpose.”

Family: Son of Jane and the late Steve McCann. Kyle and wife Maggie are the parents of three daughters, Sadie (12), Grace (10) and Claire (7).

Education: St. Malachy (class of 1992), Creston High School (class of 1997), University of Iowa bachelor’s degree (class of 2001), Creighton University School of Law (Class of 2007).

High school activities: Football, basketball, baseball, golf, Student Council, National Honor Society. Creston’s all-time leading basketball scorer (1,857 points) and leading Class 3A scorer in Iowa both as a junior and senior. Two-time all-state in basketball and football. School’s career passing leader (3,785 yards) and touchdown passes (36). Played on two state basketball tournament teams finishing third and first in 3A, and two playoff football teams including 28-27 first round loss to state champion Harlan in 1995. Played on state golf qualifying team.

College activities: Participated in one year of basketball under head coach Tom Davis; four-year letterwinner in football under coaches Hayden Fry and Kirk Ferentz. Passed for 4,349yards and 23 touchdowns. Passed for 161 yards in Iowa’s 19-16 Alamo Bowl victory over Texas Tech in 2001 in his final game.

Professional athletics: Participated in New York Jets training camp as a free agent selection and played one season of quarterback for the Barcelona Dragons in NFL Europe.

Current profession: Attorney in private practice e and in-house counsel positions since 2007, currently serving as associate general counsel ta Wright Service Corp. in West Des Moines.