RIP, “Air” McNair
Just last weekend, Independence Day no less, I opened up my Twitter feed to see stomach-sickening words. BNO News was reporting, “URGENT — Nashville, TN police tell WKRN-TV that former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair has died in an apparent murder-suicide.” My jaw dropped. In a month where among other big names, we’ve lost Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon just to name a few, I thought the celeb deaths surely had to be on a decline.
I was a baseball fan growing up. I watched a lot of Major League Baseball with my grandpa. He didn’t have a favorite team, just loved a good game. It was the only sport he watched. I wanted more. I started following a Jim Harbaugh-led Indianapolis Colts football team in 1996. I hit a goldmine when I started watching football only two years before Peyton Manning came to Indy and started making history.
A year before I started watching football, a kid from Mount Olive, Mississippi came into the NFL by way of Alcorn State University. The then-Houston Oilers selected Steve “Air” McNair with the third pick in the first round of the NFL draft. Admittedly, I didn’t know much about McNair at first, other than the fact that he was an amazing quarterback in a 2A school. He didn’t receive as much attention as those of less-talented players at 1A schools, as his school was much smaller than most of the other institutions. He still had his highlight reel, though, and made a strong case to be a Heisman award nominee. While he finished third in Heisman voting, he did receive the Walter Payton award as outstanding 2A player of the year.
Four years into McNair’s career, 1999, was a banner year for the newly dubbed Tennessee Titans. The combination of McNair’s quarterbacking, and a terrific young running back in Eddie George lead the Titans to their first, and to date, only Superbowl. Superbowl XXXIV. They met with Kurt Warner’s St. Louis Rams, “The Greatest Show on Turf.” No one was really sure that for all of the firepower Saint Louis carried with them if they’d be able to win the Superbowl- I mean, DEFENSE wins championships, right?
McNair’s troops trailed the entire game. Six seconds were left on the clock when Tennessee used their last time out. The score? 23-16, Rams on top. They had the ball around the Rams’ 10 yard line. McNair stepped back, eyeing his options, when he saw Kevin Dyson headed toward the end zone, and let it fly. Dyson made the catch, but was stopped by Saint Louis’ Mike Jones, just one yard short of the game tying touchdown. Quite unfortunately, McNair’s most famous moment was one in which his Titans fell short.
One Yard Short
McNair overcame the defeat as best anyone could, and just 4 short years later, he shared 2003’s NFL MVP award with the Colts’ Peyton Manning. Unfortunately, McNair’s body began to deteriorate more quickly than the average quarterbacks body would, due surely in part to his scrambling style. That scrambling lead to a big hit in 2004 that took him out for 11 games after a sternum injury landed him in the hospital.
McNair was ordinary again in 2005. A slower man, his arm power fading. After the 2005 season, the Titans agreed to let McNair and his agent shop around the league. In 2006 and 2007 McNair would play the final two seasons of his career in Baltimore. His first season as a Raven ended with a 13-3 record and an AFC North Championship, but a first round loss in the playoffs to the Indianapolis Colts.
In 2007, McNair missed 9 games. He had developed a lingering shoulder injury. His arm strength was gone and often he struggled to complete even short passes. He sat on the bench for the largest part of the season, and the Ravens finished with a dismal 5-11 record, last in the AFC North. McNair announced his retirement on April 10th, 2008.
Steve’s death comes a mere 15 months after his exit from the NFL. He was a good player with flashes of brilliance interwoven. He wasn’t known for his work-ethic in practice, but he was always at his best come Sunday. Steve was strong as an ox, a hard man to bring down. He was a competitor.
The problem with all of the numbers and game situations we analyze so deeply as fans is that they don’t tell the full story. They don’t tell us what kind of person a player is off the field. Numbers don’t tell you that Steve founded the Steve McNair Foundation in the early 2000s to help kids all over the country in need. Donations as small as $100-$250 would net donors autographed McNair memorabilia. Numbers don’t tell you McNair had Nike send 2 dozen shirts to a coach merely because he was complimented by said coach on his shirt.¹ His quarterback rating doesn’t reveal how the normally soft-spoken man would smile and talk trash with the best of them on Pros vs. Joes.
Fellow Pros vs. Joes participant, former competitor, and NFL great Tim Brown said of McNair, “I don’t know anybody who would say anything bad about Steve, that’s for sure. He seemed to be a very respectable guy.”¹ To hear kind words from an opponent, and one of the tougher guys in the NFL should give at least a little indication that Steve was a well respected member of the NFL both during and after his career.
I haven’t sought any gruesome details of Steve’s death. I’ve only seen initial reports. I have seen via ESPNEWS that the Nashville police are not seeking any suspect in the case as of time of writing. I do know the initial reports show McNair was shot several times, and that a female companion with him had been shot once. The press is reporting the crime as an apparent murder suicide.
You see, another thing the numbers don’t tell us is that Steve McNair, before a quarterback, was a father. While for a sports fan like myself this news was stunning, I can’t imagine being in the shoes of his children. He leaves behind 4 sons, Steve Jr., Steven, Tyler, and Trenton. Out of respect for them, I don’t want to know any gory details. Steve will be remembered as so much more than a 3-time Pro Bowl selection, or All-Pro selection and co-MVP in 2003. Steve leaves behind a legacy for his sons. Not being a great football player. Being a great human being. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. July 4, 2009- rest in peace, Steve.
¹ Portions excerpted from Sam Farmer’s LA Times article, found here.
