Handy-turned-Central football star Pat Corcoran joins Bay County Hall of Fame

Pat Corcoran was a jolly little fella as a kid.

But as he grew bigger and stronger – and bigger and stronger — he knew jolly wasn’t going to get him where he wanted to go.

He got tougher, he got meaner and – perhaps with a touch of attitude – turned himself into a butt-kicking, Big 8-bound offensive lineman and the first Bay City Handy-turned-Bay City Central football star.

“He was mean and tough on the field. He played with tenacity,” longtime Central coach Morley Fraser said. “With a guy like that, you throw the helmet away at the end of the year because it’s so beat up. Don’t bother reconditioning that one, just throw it away.”

With a stellar prep resume at Handy and Central and a Division I college career at the University of Colorado, Corcoran makes his way into the Bay County Sports Hall of Fame. He joins the 2024 induction class that is being honored Nov. 10 at the DoubleTree hotel and banquet center in downtown Bay City.

Named a 1991 high school All-American by The Tom Lemming Report as a senior, Corcoran made the bold decision to accept a scholarship offer from the University of Colorado, joining a program that captured the 1990 national championship.

He would spend three seasons with the Buffaloes, suiting up alongside the likes of Kordell Stewart, Biletnikoff Award winner Michael Westbrook and Butkus Award winner Matt Russell. The highlight of his Colorado career was entering a big game against Texas in 1994 and throwing blocks for running back Rashaan Salaam, who was on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy.

When Colorado delivered the Miracle at Michigan – snaring a 27-26 victory on a final-play 64-yard heave from Stewart to Westbrook – Corcoran had 35 family members cheering him on as he stormed the field at the Big House.

But none of that would have materialized if Corcoran hadn’t developed an edge, something he developed on the wrestling mats under coaches Larry and Tony Escamilla at Handy. Corcoran would finish his varsity career with a 102-21 record, winning Bay County, White Pine Conference and Saginaw Valley League championships at 275 pounds.

His crowning achievement was a national championship at the AAU/USA Freestyle Championships in Indianapolis in 1990.

“Wrestling changed my life when I got to high school,” he said. “If you can get through wrestling, you can get through football practice and anything in life.

“After wrestling for a full season, that loosey-goosey guy I was as a kid was gone. I saw a light at the end of the tunnel and, from that point on, I used aggression to my advantage.”

A product of Northwest Little League and the Bay City Boys Club, he made a splash in wrestling and football in his two seasons at Handy. Prior to his junior year, Handy was closed as a high school and Corcoran and his friends suddenly found themselves thrown in with their archrivals across the river at Central.

“That was probably the roughest time of my life,” he said. “Handy did not want anything to do with Central and Central did not want anything to do with Handy. We never liked those guys. They were our enemies. Now they’re telling us we’re teammates?

“You live Red and White and all of a sudden you’re Wolf.”

Corcoran said it took some time for the former rivals to mesh, but eventually the football team paved the way for the student body at large to come together. And the big fella on the offensive line was a big part of the equation.

“We noticed right away with Pat that we had something special,” said Fraser, the Hall of Fame coach who directed Central from 1986-2017. “He could be a big-time offensive lineman and that was evident from Day 1. Some big guys are timid, but he went hard all the time.”

Corcoran became renowned for his strength – benching 430 pounds – and could throw bodies around while corralling nine quarterback sacks as a defensive lineman for the Wolves. But his primary talent was on the offensive line, where he earned selection to the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association All-Star Game.

“Back then, we were still all about old-school football,” said Phil Zanotti, who was Central’s offensive line coach. “We didn’t worry about footwork, we just wanted him to come off the ball and put his facemask through someone’s chest. And he won most of those battles.”

While Corcoran had offers from Michigan State and Central Michigan, he settled on Colorado for his college football pursuit. The son of Katherine and Richard Corcoran – the Bay City St. Mary’s star who played at Hillsdale College and had a handful of NFL tryouts – Pat was actually born in Colorado before his parents moved back to Bay City when he was 3 years old.

He joined Bill McCartney’s flourishing program and went to work at making his mark.

“I was the big fish in Bay City but a little, tiny fish at Colorado,” he said. “Everybody thought I was huge at 6-3, 330 at Bay City Central. I get out to Colorado and I’m the second shortest lineman on the team.

“Right away, they moved me to guard and center. You know how hard it is to fight off a nose guard from the Big 8 with one hand, with the other one between your legs?”

Corcoran said all but one of the 25 players in his recruiting class were high school All-Americans and cracking the starting lineup in a Top 10 program would not be easy. He said he worked his way up to the second unit on the depth chart, only occasionally taking the field in game action.

But he was part of teams that went 28-6-2 during his three seasons, suiting up for the Fiesta Bowl twice and the Aloha Bowl once. The 1994 Colorado squad beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl and finished at No. 3 in the final Associated Press rankings.

When a new coaching staff was brought on board under Rick Neuheisel the following year, Corcoran wasn’t part of the plan. He said he was offered a chance to remain on scholarship to finish out his degree – and jumped at it.

“I wanted to get my degree,” he said. “I had a conversation with my dad about coming home. He said ‘Do you like taking out the garbage? You’d better get used to it because if you don’t get a degree, you’re going to do it every day.’

“A lot of people gave their blood, sweat and tears in high school to get me to college and I wasn’t going to let them down.”

Now age 51, Corcoran is an environmental health and safety specialist for Hydranautics, living in Oceanside, California with wife Katie and daughter Makena. He said he still returns to Colorado to take part in alumni functions with his recruiting class. But he’s looking forward to his first trip back to Michigan in more than 10 years.

“I definitely have an appreciation for all the coaches in Bay City,” he said. “From the time I was a little kid through high school, I never had a bad coach. Their time and patience made me who I am. My father gave me my motivation and the coaches developed my talent.”

Corcoran joins the induction class of Jeff Boks, Angie Rosich Johnson, Justin Laskowski, Scott Peterson, Roger Szafranski, Mark Wittbrodt, the 1994 Bay City Central volleyball team, the 1994 Bay City Central football team and President’s Award winner Mike Vincent.

Banquet tickets are available for purchase at baycountysportshof.com or in person at Renue Physical Therapy, the Hall of Fame’s presenting sponsor. Cost is $50 for a ticket or $70 for a ticket plus a discounted Lifetime Membership to the Hall of Fame.

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