Jordan McNair playing the game he loved: Football
Only a few months ago, Jordan McNair passed away. You might ask, who is that? And I think that proves my point exactly. Jordan McNair was a red-shirt freshman offensive lineman who played Division I football for the University of Maryland. McNair passed away from a heatstroke due to exhaustion in summer training which led up to his first season as a Terrapin. Although the team did some things to keep his memory and impact on the team from growing vain, it was simply not enough as the entire world has probably forgotten who Jordan McNair even is.
Despite the team’s efforts and opportunity to make Jordan McNair’s name never be forgotten, the University of Maryland failed. In fact, they failed so bad that I pondered the idea of using his death as my civic artifact in order to expose the lack of civic engagement around the topic in the community.
Maryland team reflecting before a game on the loss of Jordan McNair
The Good: Following McNair’s death, the team actually bonded together as a family due to this shared, traumatic experience. The team funded and purchased flags and stickers to put on their helmets with the number 79 (McNair’s number) on it. Many players who knew McNair closely often visited his family in order to provide emotion support when they needed it most. Most significant, however, on the first snap of their first game, the team lined up as if McNair was there, leaving a whole in the offensive line. Obviously out of the ordinary, this brought attention to his name, helping the nation remember who McNair was.
Maryland Football team honoring McNair’s number
The Bad: Following the death of one of his own players, University of Maryland Football head coach DJ Durkin was placed on administrative leave until further investigation. Rather than being completely
Durkin’s evident fear-based mentality
fired, Durkin remained a part of the team until last October, where the University of Maryland finally fired him. Despite the obvious allegation of Jordan McNair dying, many of the players report Durkin ran a “toxic” culture, fueled by fear and intimidation. This explains why McNair’s death occurred in the first place and possibly why McNair was afraid to speak up after feeling weird during practice.
The Ugly: The worst out of all of this are the comments made by the University of Maryland Athletic Director Damon Evans. Following the death of Jordan McNair, Evans called the death of McNair a “mistake”. A mistake. Calling the death of one of his athletes a mistake might be one of the most disrespectful things Evans could have done in that scenario.
All in all, Jordan McNair is simply forgotten. Despite the true sadness of this fact, it is one that must be accepted and learned from as the actions of the University of Maryland only swept the media under the rug, rather than embracing it to make a statement for all NCAA Division I athletes.
Thank you for reading. Signing off, Woz.
