McMahon, at 6-foot-0, 185 pounds, lost only two starts in two years — one in a Wyoming blizzard, the other a four-point decision at New Mexico. He quarterbacked BYU to its first two bowl victories ever, in 1980 and 1981. He threw for 4,571 yards and 47 touchdown passes in one season alone.

But it was more than numbers. He had uncanny vision and a computer-like mind for recognizing defenses and their weaknesses instantly, and he picked them apart with ridiculous ease. He found second, third and fourth receivers. He audibled routinely. It all came easily to him. He didn't need film sessions, which he loathed.

"He'd come into the (film) room, and in five minutes he'd tell you what was going on," former quarterback coach Norm Chow once said. "He knew it before the coaches did."

McMahon was a consensus All-American for two years, the MVP of the Western Athletic Conference for three years, and he was named the starting quarterback for the WAC's 25th anniversary team.

It isn't much exaggeration when McMahon Sr. says, "He put BYU on the map." Holmoe agrees: "He played a big part in what BYU is doing today."

In 1998, McMahon was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

But he's not in the BYU Hall of Fame because there's one thing he didn't do: graduate.

The BYU Athletic Hall of Fame requires all inductees to have completed their degrees.

McMahon Sr., believes the rule was created just to keep his son out of the hall. The quarterback had a reputation for flouting BYU's rules, and he turned Provo into Snitchville. Edwards fielded more than a few anonymous calls from people saying they saw McMahon commit some transgression. With curious timing, BYU kicked him out of school immediately after the 1981 Holiday Bowl — which also marked the end of McMahon's eligibility. McMahon was nine credits short of graduation.

"If he was breaking all these rules, why did they wait five years?" asks McMahon Sr.

McMahon Jr., of course, went on to a professional football career, leading the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl title in 1985, four years after leaving school.

Certainly, McMahon Sr. has found a sympathetic ear for his cause in Holmoe, one of McMahon's BYU teammates and a former NFL player and collegiate coach. After receiving McMahon Sr.'s letter, he made inquiries around campus and around the country. He discovered that BYU's hall had always required graduation of its inductees, and that it wasn't merely created for McMahon. He also learned that there are other schools that require hall of fame inductees to be graduates, and some that don't.