G.C. McCoy

G.C. McCoy started his football playing career at Sperry and finished at Inola. "I graduated from Inola, but my roots will always be in Sperry," said McCoy. What are the odds that a small town kid will grow up to play professional football in Sweden? For McCoy, playing overseas became a reality in 2008. A college career and a brief stint in Arena League football led him to play for a pro team in a country that was a million miles away for a small town kid. "I didn't expect to start me freshman year at Ottawa, but I did. It was a quick four years. I knew when I was done playing college ball that I still had the fire in me to play and I was able to play arena ball for a couple of years," said McCoy.

McCoy played his arena ball for the Billings Outlaws in Billings Montana. Just before leaving for Sweden McCoy was playing for the New Mexico Wildcats. His stay there was short thanks to the offer to play overseas. "The arena game is a complete adjustment to how you play football. It's a faster game and they pass nearly every down," said McCoy.

McCoy was content playing for the New Mexico Wildcats, but one day a phone call came in that would change his life. "I was playing in New Mexico and my agent called and asked me if I wanted to go play overseas. I said I would love to. So he told me to pack my stuff up and come home and we'll get you a ticket. I didn't think it would happen real quick so I tell my coaches Sunday night after we get back from the game. I told them the situation and they so go do it if you want to do it. I packed up and drove home," McCoy continues, "On the drive back from New Mexico all I could think about is don't have a flat tire or an accident. And I was thinking about all of that water I was about to fly over. I arrived home safe and called my agent that next morning and he said are you really ready to do this and I said yes. He told me my plane leaves next Saturday. That was five days away. So it all happened really fast."

Once he got the word he was going to Teresa, Sweden McCoy did what most people would do, he Googled it. "I got home and started looking up Sweden on the computer. Figuring out the currency and the population of Teresa, which is a suburb of Stockholm. I wanted to learn some survival phrases too," said McCoy. But getting to a new country is one thing, getting in is another. "I stood in the wrong passport line for about 35 minutes. I noticed other people had a different color passport. I had a blue passport and my line had red. So I went to the back of the line and had to wait all over again," said McCoy.

Football is football, but for McCoy Sweden meant proving himself all over again. "The head coach spoke great English so it was easy to communicate. When I arrived there were five players waiting to meet me. They gave me a tour of the city, showed me our field and where to eat. That's when I realized I was going to have to live like they live. The football was the same. We ran the same defense that I ran in college so adjusting wasn't that hard. I just had to learn the new terms for certain calls," said McCoy.

Today McCoy is looking at possible opportunities to play in Italy or back in the states with an arena team. "I might have a chance to play in Italy. I would love to play there, but if that doesn't work out I'll find a place to play stateside. I love football and I'm not ready to give it up," said McCoy.