Words can never adequately express our grief at the loss, on March 29, 1998, of our husband, father and friend — Jim McCord.
Jim was known and loved by thousands of friends around the country (particularly Penn Staters!), who shared the pain we felt when he lost a valiant 7-month battle with cancer in March, at the age of 49.
Many were stunned at the tremendous out-pouring of love and support expressed for Jim and his family during his illness and after his passing, continuing right up until now. We felt it was fitting to dedicate this special page in honor and tribute to Jim, the person who, along with Jacalyn, was the guiding light and vision for the growth of Lion Paw Pottery. We wish to thank Susan Baldridge and the Lancaster Sunday News for their permission to reprint the cover story of their April 5, 1998 edition.
one of their pride
When James Alan McCord was a young boy, his father took him to visit his alma mater, Penn State. So impressed was the 7-year-old that he grabbed a hunk of sod from the end zone, stuffed it in his pocket and vowed to return there someday. He held onto that shriveled piece of sod until he made good on his promise.
Jim McCord remained so determined to attend Penn State University that when offers come flooding in from other schools to entice the Troy Area High School football star, he would have nothing to do with them. His exasperated mother, Beatrice, said he shouldn’t waste the other colleges’ time. Jim would go to Penn State. That was it.
It was this determination that brought him to Happy Valley on a football scholarship, that saw him play as a tight end with the Nittany Lions in two Orange Bowl games, make key plays, and block for the likes of Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell.
It was that determination and grit that helped the Pequea man fight cancer diagnosed last September. He outlived all doctors’ expectations. But last Sunday, after seven months, McCord died.
Joe Paterno thought enough of McCord to slip into Lancaster Thursday for the memorial service, along with his assistant coaches Dick Anderson and Fran Ganter, who was also a teammate of McCord. Paterno will be the speaker at a May 29 benefit for McCord’s wife and three daughters.
“Jim McCord fought as hard as anyone I’ve known not to die,: said Randy Riggs, McCord’s minister at First Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, who performed the memorial service. “In the end, he taught us all something about living and about dying.”
“It was like George Bailey in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’” said Jackie, his college sweetheart and wife of 27 years. “Jim had no idea he had touched so many lives until he was sick in the hospital and people, so many people, stopped in and told him what he meant to them. That was just great,” she said. “We never questioned why this was happening to us. We were so glad for every minute he had left.”
McCord went to Penn State in 1967 on the ground floor of what was to become known as “the grand experiment” under a fresh-faced Joe Paterno. Could football players, who were often coddled and segregated and passed through by other universities, come to Penn State and get a degree and have a life off the football field, integrated with other students?
“Jim always called Joe Paterno the ‘real deal,’” recalled his wife, who said that was McCord’s highest compliment for anyone. “Jim was an ambassador for Penn State. He was so proud of the program there... He was proud of the way Coach Paterno promised the boys’ parents they would graduate with a real degree and as long as they played football they would play it ‘clean’ and he would not put up with anything.”
Paterno encouraged his players, Jim would tell people, to be well-rounded. Perhaps that mentoring allowed Jim the freedom to express his creative side. After a few years as an assistant coach to Paterno and doing other jobs, Jim settled into a peaceful life as a potter with his wife in their Lion Paw Pottery business in Pequea.
“He did the slab construction,” explained Jackie. “I did the thrown pieces. He would make a tray and I made the matching cups. He was always the salesman.” The McCords and their daughters, Jen, Jess, and Jamie, traveled to arts and craft shows along the East Coast in their motor home. But they made their schedule fit the lives of their daughters. Jen, who was accepted at Penn State for the fall, received a letter this week granting her admission into the Schreyer Honors Program for outstanding academic status.
The news came a few days too late for her father.
“Jim had a difficult college career,” said Bob Holuba, McCord’s freshman roommate, fellow teammate and lifelong friend. “It was difficult I that he was recruited as a fullback, played defensive linebacker as a sophomore and was asked to move to tight end in his junior year. Only someone with particularly strong athletic ability could have done this.
During their sophomore and junior years, McCord and Holuba were part of two undefeated football teams. The team was unbeaten in 31 games.
It was in defending that unbeaten status that McCord had one of his most outstanding moments, Holuba remembered. In a tough game at Syracuse, the Lions were down 14-0 at the start of the fourth quarter. But Franco Harris broke through the line and, with McCord blocking for him, scored. A run for a two-point conversion and McCord’s blocking for a second touchdown helped Penn State win the game, 15-14.
The benefit will feature a silent auction with signed football memorabilia and donated items. Proceeds will go to the McCord family scholarship fund set up for the daughters, 17, 16, and 14.
The medical bills from the cancer treatments wiped out the McCords’ savings and all the money they had put away for the girls’ college educations.
“It was difficult to figure out at the time what was covered and what wasn’t,” explained Jackie. “We didn’t always have the time to research if one drug was less expensive for him or if there was a more economical way to transport him to the hospital. When you’re going through it, you want to get the treatment. When Jim couldn’t breathe in the middle of the night, we called the ambulance. And when the bills came, I just paid them.”
Jackie said she and her daughters are overwhelmed by the support they are receiving and with the friends who are organizing the benefit. “At least Jim knew it was being organized before he died,” Jackie said. “He wanted the money to help others going through this.”
Jackie said she will continue running the pottery business.
“I was right in the middle of a perfect life,” said Jackie from her living room decorated with family portraits. “I’m not going to change any of the other parts that I enjoy so much. The girls will help me in the business. I have friends and support from fellow craftsmen. You just go on and thank God for each day.”
