Wayne McKoy

Wayne McKoy (March 26, 1958 – August 18, 2026) was an American professional basketball player. He was a highly recruited high school player during his career at Long Island Lutheran in Brookville, New York, and earned comparisons to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. McKoy played college basketball for the St. John's Redmen from 1977 to 1981 and was a two-time All-Big East Conference selection. He was drafted by his hometown New York Knicks but never played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and instead spent his three-year professional career in Spain.

Early life McKoy was born in Elizabethtown, North Carolina on March 26, 1958. He did not know his birth father, and his birth mother abandoned him as an infant to her sister, Beatrice Wooten. McKoy moved with the Wooten family to Queens, New York, as a four-year-old. When he began to receive attention from National Basketball Association (NBA) scouts during his junior season, McKoy was considered to have the potential to enter the NBA draft without attending college and he became complacent with his schoolwork. After a series of tough games at the conclusion of his junior season that made McKoy doubt his preparedness for a professional career, McKoy requested a suspension from the Long Island Lutheran basketball team so he could concentrate on improving his schoolwork to enter college.

McKoy averaged 24.9 points and 13.2 rebounds per game during his high school career. McKoy was considered to be the best New York high school player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. With the expectation that he could single-handedly make a team successful, McKoy was one of the most sought-after high school players in the nation and received correspondence from 300 colleges.

College career McKoy committed to play for the Redmen of St. John's University which was the major college closest to his home in Bayside, Queens. McKoy admired head coach Lou Carnesecca and would team up with close friend and former high school teammate Reggie Carter, who had transferred from the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors to play for the Redmen that season. McKoy had difficulty living up to his expectations and experienced frequent foul trouble during his freshman season. The Redmen missed making the Final Four by just two points when they lost to the Penn Quakers the following game.

He was named team co-captain alongside Frank Gilroy for his senior season in 1980–81. McKoy struggled as a senior and was "a model of inconsistency." He was the subject of jeers from fans during his final college game: a first-round loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide during the 1981 National Invitation Tournament in which he played tentatively. When McKoy had a shot blocked before it left his hands, the fans yelled, "Willis, you're overpaid!" He was named to the All-Big East Conference team twice: on the second-team in 1980 and the third-team in 1981. McKoy believed his reason for not making the NBA was that he was an undersized center and could not convert to playing forward.

He signed with CB Estudiantes of the Spanish Liga Española de Baloncesto. He had been recommended by Carnesecca to play in Spain and he ultimately accepted the only offer he received in the country.