Charlie Markey

Charlie Markey was a football, track and wrestling standout at Saginaw High School, where he was named the school’s Most Valuable Athlete for 1969. In track, he competed in the sprints, long jump and on relay teams. His personal bests included a time of :9.9 in the 100-yard dash and 22-2 1/2 in the long jump. He was a member of the school record-setting and Saginaw Valley championship 880-yard relay team that had a time of 1:30. He qualified for the state meet in the 100-yard dash and long jump, but missed the meet due an injury. Markey was the city sprint champion in both his sophomore and junior seasons. During his junior year he scored a team-high 104 points during the track season and was voted as most valuable in track. He was a two-year starter for the Trojans’ football team and averaged 6.4 yards per carry as a junior. Markey gained 790 yards and was the team’s leading scorer. He was named as an honorable mention on the Class A All-State and on the All-SVL football teams, and first team Class A All-Area by the Saginaw News and All-County by WSAM while also winning a Coca-Cola Golden Helmet award. Markey rushed for 936 yards on 166 carries in nine games his senior season for a 5.6 yards per carry average. As inside linebacker, he was the team leader with 138 tackles, including 42 solo stops. Markey also made two interceptions and had three fumble recoveries. He was named Class A All-Area first team by the Saginaw News, WSAM All-County, first team All-Saginaw Valley League and first team All-State from the Associated Press, United Press International, Detroit News (both overall and Class A) and Detroit Free Press Dream Team. As a member of the 1968 Detroit News Overall All-State team, the Michigan chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame also recognized him as the winner of the H.G. Salsinger Award given annually to the All-State player with the highest GPA. Markey was also named as an honorable mention on the Scholastic Coaches All-American team. He was awarded the Michigan Honor Trophy as the class salutatorian and was granted a full-ride academic scholarship to Central Michigan University, where he was a three-year letter winner for the football team. The 5-foot-7 speedster fought for playing time and finally got his chance in 1972 and made the most of it by rushing for a school-record 1,513 yards. He broke the 100-yard rushing mark in nine of his 11 games and averaged 5.2 yards per carry. Against Akron University, he rushed 40 times, one shy of the team record, and he averaged 26 carries per game during the season. Markey was second in the nation among college division backs in total yards and his 137.5 yards per game average was fifth in the nation. His rushing mark and 290 attempts that season was a record that stood for 22 years. Additionally, Markey sported a kickoff-return average of 30.0 yards which put him in second all-time in the CMU record books. Other CMU standards he eclipsed include 1,815 total all-purpose yards in a season and his career total of 2,164 yards ranked as fourth best. His career-rushing yardage placed him fifth all-time and he placed second in individual season total offense. He was named the team’s MVP, most consistent player, and most effective offensive back. Topping off his accolades, Markey was named third team Little All-American by the Associated Press and as an Outstanding College Athlete of America in 1973. In 2003, he was inducted into the CMU Athletics Hall of Fame.