Don’t pay any attention to the NFL record-keeping office. They never had to escape Coy Bacon.

Ironton’s Coy Bacon, who died Monday at the age of 66, unofficially registered 130 career sacks, more than any player in history.

However, he is not recognized as the all-time leader because the NFL didn’t begin to keep sacks as an official record until 1982.

The former All-Pro Bacon had the most sacks in an individual season when he racked up 26 in 1976, but, again, the NFL does not recognize it as the record because it came prior to 1982.

Bill “Tiger” Johnson, who coached in the NFL for nearly six decades, once called Bacon the second-best pass rusher he ever saw behind Gino Marchetti of the Baltimore Colts. He was listed among the top 10 in a Sports Illustrated story.

“As a pass rusher, Coy had tremendous ability,” Johnson said in a 2002 interview.

“Coy had excellent quickness. As a pass rusher, Gino Marchetti of the Colts and Deacon Jones were two of the best. Marchetti was really something, but Coy was equal in that phase. He was a great pass rusher.”

Regardless of where he was ranked, he was on everyone’s list.

“Coy was a tremendous player for the Bengals, the greatest pass rusher our team has ever had,” said Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown in a statement this past week upon learning of Bacon’s death.

“After he left the team, he worked hard to make life better for youths in the Ironton area. What he did was admirable, something all of us respect. We are saddened by his passing.”

The Bengals were in need of a pass rusher and traded wide receiver Charlie Joyner for Bacon in 1975. Bacon was an All-Pro in his two seasons with the team and set the team record with 26 which was later downgraded to 21.5 sacks by the NFL.

The former record that has since been broken by Mark Gastineau and then Michael Strahan.

The Washington Redskins picked up Bacon in 1978 and he registered 15 sacks — still a Redskins’ team record — and got 11 more in 1980. He finished his career with the Washington Federals of the USFL in 1983.

Bacon was a standout lineman and basketball player for the Ironton Fighting Tigers who went on to play at Jackson State and then spent 14 years in the NFL.

Although he was a great pass rusher, Bacon was not a situational player who was only inserted on long-yardage or passing downs. He played all the time.

Bacon wanted to be remembered as a complete defensive lineman, not just a pass rusher.

“You don’t play 16 yeas in the NFL and not be able to play the run. You can’t just be a good pass rusher or just a good run defender. I played every down. A pass rusher plays only in pass-rushing situations,” Bacon said in a previous interview.

Former Bengals’ offensive lineman and radio color analyst Dave Lapham played with the 6-foot-4,270-pound Bacon.

“He was the best pass rusher I ever saw. He had a very nimble body for a guy his size,” said Lapham.

Maybe now the NFL will pay attention, along with the Pro Football Hall of Fame.