Steve McNair

Steve McNair

Stephen LaTreal McNair, more commonly referred to as Steve McNair, was an American professional Football Quarterback, born on 14 February, 1973, in Mount Olive, Mississippi. McNair developed early interests in a multitude of sports, such as Football, Basketball and Baseball, but for the 6 foot 3 inch American, Football always had a special meaning. He demonstrated tremendous strength, agility and vision in his early years, finally being drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 35th round of the 1991 MLB amateur draft.

Given that McNair easily caught the eye of agents due to his winning mentality and physical well-being, he began playing college football for Alcorn State University between 1992 and 1994. McNair broke some impressive statistics in his time with Alcorn State, throwing for 3,541 yards, making 29 touchdowns, and further ran for10 scores in his first season. After successfully leading his team to multiple victories, McNair concluded his final season with gaining close to 6000 yards, and making 53 touchdowns. As a result, he won the Walter Payton Award as the top I-AA player, as well as being voted third in the Heisman Trophy selection. McNair made further records of the highest passing and offensive yards, the figures still standing at 14,496 yards and 16,283 yards respectively.

Over a 13-year career, Steve McNair played for three NFL teams, starting with the Houston Oilers in 1995. At the time, he was selected as the team’s third draft, and was the highest drafted African American NFL quarterback in the game’s history. He was signed for a 7 year contract, and played some extremely dedicated and hard-borne games towards the end of the 1995 season. Seeing how McNair failed to get a permanent starting position amongst the Oilers, he moved to the Tennessee Titans in 1997, and spent the next nine seasons here. From 1997 to 2005, McNair’s statistics rose dramatically, as his completion percentage saw a 10% increase and his attempts displayed a similar trajectory. In his first season here, he had 8 rushing touchdowns, the third highest number for an NFL Quarterback. The 1998 season paid off well for the All American superstar, as he made new records of 492 attempts, 289 completions, 3,228 yards and 15 touchdowns. As a result, his quarterback rating rose to 80.1. After a brief face off with disc surgery in 1999, McNair returned to lead his team to victory in seven out of 9 remaining games.

After losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the 2000 play-offs, McNair set new records by accomplishing stunning statistics with 3,350 passing yards, 264 completions, 21 touchdowns and a new quarterback rating of 90.2. Despite a calf and ankle injury in 2003, McNair still managed to produce his best records in the same season, working out an impressive 3,215 passing yards, 24 touchdown passes and a new quarterback rating of 100.4. In 2006, he moved to the Baltimore Ravens. In the same season, he broke the record of the longest pass in Ravens’ history, throwing an 89-yard pass to Mark Clayton. He also managed to help the Ravens conceal a 13-3 record and an AFC championship. While he sat out for most of the 2007 season, McNair decided to retire in 2008.

On July 4th, 2009, Steve McNair was found dead in his apartment in Nashville, Tennessee. At the time of his passing, he had four sons.


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