Its really sad that Steve McNair has gotten zero media attention after he was tragically shot to death in a apartment on July 4th. McNair was a brilliant QB and a great man. We need to get this to the front page of reddit so that this star gets the credit he deserves.

by: Richard Justice

McNair’s legacy was toughness, kindness and excellence

There was the time Steve McNair underwent surgery to repair a broken chest bone. Doctors inserted wire to help the bone heal. Under no circumstances was McNair to play that week.

But then Neil O’Donnell got hurt, and McNair did what he always did. He answered the bell for his teammates and his franchise and his coaches and all the people that cared about the Tennessee Titans.

Later, the Pittsburgh Steelers would tell of hitting McNair and hearing him wheeze, hearing him wheeze through the wire, hearing him groan and then watching him get up and run another play. McNair was in unimaginable pain that afternoon, and yet he wouldn’t come out of the game.

He led the Titans to a victory, and that was about the time he’d talked to Jeff Fisher about quitting football because he was tired of being booed, tired of being the guy that was never quite good enough.

He got huge cheers that following week after fans learned what he’d endured to beat the Steelers, and that was pretty much the end of people questioning Steve McNair about anything.

He would be the NFL’s Co-MVP within a year, and got the Titans within about two inches of winning a Super Bowl.

Back when the Oilers were evaluating him before the draft, there were questions about whether a kid that had run the shotgun at Alcorn State could play quarterback in the NFL.

Unspoken, of course, was whether a black kid from the SWAC was smart enough to be a winning quarterback in the NFL. Yes, it was still a white boy’s position at that time.

The Oilers talked to McNair’s coaches and to his teammates, and the more they heard about him, the more they were impressed. A psychiatrist that evaluated him confirmed that everything the Oilers thought they knew about McNair as a leader was absolutely correct. As for intelligence, the Oilers gave him basic football tests and discovered he was a brilliant, instinctive football player.

Back when the Oilers were still our team, they brought in Chris Chandler to play quarterback while Jerry Rhome tutored McNair. At some point in that season, Mark Stepnoski was the first to say what plenty of others were saying privately.

He wanted McNair on the field and he wanted him immediately. It wasn’t just the ability. Everyone could see that Steve McNair had great ability. It was something more than that. It was the way he carried himself, the way he interacted with teammates, the way he was respected.

He was that way with kids. He had a charitable heart, was one of those people that if you needed him for something, he would be there with a smile and a handshake.

He was a private person in a very public business, but he always seemed comfortable.

Quarterbacks are different. From the earliest age, they’re the ones of whom the most is expected. They’re usually the toughest guys on the field, and sometimes the smartest.

They’re the ones willing to accept the blame when things go back and deflect the credit when things go well. They’re the leaders in the locker room, but they also represent management in the community. There’s no position in sports like it.

The really good ones, the Steve McNairs and Peyton Mannings and Tom Bradys, play this role effortlessly. They’re the ones that own the room when they walk in. They don’t do it with words, but with a confidence and a presence everyone can see.

Steve McNair was like that. He was quiet and he was tough as nails. He cared about his teammates.

He was a farm boy at heart. While his teammates lifted weights, McNair bailed hay on his farm.

In those first years with the Oilers, he got a call from an Alcorn teammate telling about a Houston teen that was in trouble, that seemed about to be swallowed up by gangs and drugs.

Would Steve spend some time with this kid, try to convince him he was headed down a bad road?

Steve did that, and he and Vince Young became lifelong friends. Last fall when Vince quit on his team, it was McNair that came back and talked again.

Listen, I don’t know what happened to Steve McNair. I don’t know what happened or why.

I just know that all of his live our lives in layers, that it’s hard to evaluate a living, breathing human with a single brush.

I just know that Steve McNair was one of those special people, that he cared about people and performed brilliantly. I just know that he touched a lot of people in the right way, and today their hearts are breaking.

Courtesy of http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice/archives/2009/07/mcnairs_legacy.html