McQuay played college football with the now disbanded University of Tampa Spartans (from 1968 to 1970.)
He rushed for 1,362 yards and scored 22 TDs as a junior in 1970 and received first-team honors on the 1970 Little All-America college football team.
McQuay skipped his senior season to sign with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League in 1971.
Toronto fans had waited decades for a champion, and with less than two minutes left, down by 3 points and on the Calgary 7-yard line, quarterback Joe Theismann handed off to McQuay, who promptly slipped on the wet turf and fumbled away the ball, and Toronto lost the game.
After retiring, McQuay returned to his native Florida to study to become a minister, but died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1995, aged 45.