John McKenna, the legendary Virginia Military Institute football coach from 1953 to 1965 who revived the VMI football program and brought his teams to four Southern Conference championships and one undefeated season, is remembered by a former colleague in a new “Rockbridge Anecdote.”
Richard B. Sessoms delivered a toast in 2005 at a VMI banquet that honored McKenna, then 91 years old, and the new “Anecdote” is based on those remarks. Sessoms knew and observed McKenna first as a sportswriter for the Roanoke Times and later as VMI’s athletic business manager and sports information director.
McKenna (1914-2007), inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, headed the VMI football program for 13 years beginning in 1953. His 1957 team went undefeated and the 62 victories notched under McKenna remain the most of any VMI football coach.
“Anecdotes” are a less scholarly relative of the online local history journal “Rockbridge Epilogues.” Informal and usually more whimsical, “Anecdotes” can be read without charge at www.RockbridgeAnecdotes. org.
ABOVE, COACH John McKenna in 1953, the first of his 13 record-setting seasons as VMI’s head football coach. AT RIGHT, VMI’s undefeated 1957 team, coached by John McKenna, in action in its 28-6 win over the University of Richmond. (courtesy of VMI Archives)
