Why the heck is Mississippi native Steve McNair not in the College Football Hall of Fame? Perhaps we found the answer
When Alcorn State coach Fred McNair looks back on the life his brother lived, a couple words come to mind.
“Happy.” “Icon.”
Happy, Steve McNair was to play the game he loved at such a high level. From his days leading Mount Olive High School to a Mississippi high school football state championship in 1990 to the last NFL snap he took for the Baltimore Ravens in 2007, Steve established himself as an icon.
Instead of accepting a scholarship to play defensive back at Florida, he stayed local and went to Division I-AA Alcorn State to play quarterback. There, “Air McNair” racked up 14,496 passing yards and 16,283 career yards, both of which are still all-time records at the Football Championship Subdivision level (then Division I-AA). In his senior season alone, he gained nearly 6,000 yards of total offense and finished with 53 touchdowns.
That year gave McNair notoriety beyond his wildest dreams. He earned the Walter Payton Award as the top player in Division I-AA en route to finishing third in the Heisman Trophy race. That was after Sports Illustrated ran a cover story on McNair called, “Hand Him the Heisman.”
Because of Steve’s growing national popularity in 1994, ESPN2 started broadcasting Alcorn State’s Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) games. Not bad for a kid at a small, historically all-black school in Mississippi.
“I came to a game and the sideline is full of cameras and everything,” Fred said. “I couldn’t even see the sidelines with the cameras and stuff.”
Back then, nothing held Steve back from getting the attention he deserved. Eight years ago, he was killed by his mistress in what investigators ruled a murder-suicide. The cameras are no longer on him or his accomplishments.
It’s been 22 years since Steve’s college career ended. Still, he’s not in the College Football Hall of Fame. He’s never even been nominated.
Why the heck not?
By every one of the National Football Foundation’s criteria, he should be. Steve McNair earned All-America honors (a debated rule that’s keeping out plenty of former stars), he’s been eligible since 2005 and his records still stand. He’s one of the greatest football players the state of Mississippi ever produced.
But apparently McNair’s on-the-field accomplishments aren’t holding him back from being nominated. Perhaps we found the reason he hasn’t gotten his proper due.
Alcorn State coach Fred McNair, brother of Steve McNair
SDS reached out to the NFF seeking clarification as to why McNair had never been nominated. An NFF spokesperson stated that each candidate must be nominated by their respective school by filling out a few nomination forms.
According to the NFF, McNair has never been nominated by Alcorn State. Paperwork, NFF stated, was the reason McNair was still waiting enshrinement. The NFF spokesperson told SDS that they could send the nomination forms to Fred. Here was the final interaction SDS had with an NFF spokesperson over email:
SDS: Just so that I’m clear, the only thing holding Steve back from being nominated is Alcorn State filling out a few forms?
NFF: Correct.
That rule isn’t specified in the organization’s official selection process guidelines. We sought confirmation to that stipulation by contacting Ole Miss to see what it did to get former Rebel linebacker Patrick Willis on the ballot for the 2018 class.
An Ole Miss spokesperson told SDS that they nominated Willis two years before he was even eligible to appear on the ballot for the first time. Ole Miss added that Willis had to clear the district screening process before appearing on the ballot.
When SDS interviewed Fred McNair, he was not aware of why his brother hadn’t been nominated yet. We weren’t either. Upon learning that information, we reached out to Alcorn State on multiple occasions in an attempt to share the NFF’s reasoning, but did not get a response.
It’s too late for Steve McNair to earn a spot on the ballot for 2018. Those nominees have been vetted and the class will be announced on Jan. 8, 2018 in Atlanta.
But it’s not too late for 2019 and beyond.
If McNair is eventually nominated by Alcorn State, there could be a possible barrier to entry, albeit an extremely subjective one. In the third part of the National Football Foundation’s selection process, it states the following:
While each nominee’s football achievements in college are of prime consideration, his post football record as a citizen is also weighed. He must have proven himself worthy as a citizen, carrying the ideals of football forward into his relations with his community and fellow man. Consideration may also be given for academic honors and whether or not the candidate earned a college degree.
Fred knows his brother wasn’t a perfect person. In 2003, Steve was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and for illegal gun possession. In 2007, he was arrested for another DUI while he was with his brother-in-law. All of those charges were dropped. Steve had two children with his wife, Mechelle, and two children with two different women. He was murdered by a 20-year-old woman with whom he had a romantic relationship.
Steve certainly had his struggles, but he wasn’t convicted of any major crimes. If future voters are hesitant to vote for Steve because of his off-the-field issues, Fred would like the selection committee to think twice.
“I’d say to them, ‘When y’all judging people, just be careful. Don’t just judge them on the bad things that they go through in life,’” Fred said. “Sometimes, you’ve just gotta say, ‘The good outweighs the bad.’”
The selection committee could take that approach with several 2018 nominees. The group had guys who were arrested for domestic battery and sexual assault. Alcoholics made the list. There was even someone who was indicted on a murder charge. All of them could earn enshrinement in 2018. There could be also be kickers and non-Heisman finalists who get into the College Football Hall of Fame next year.
Fred still remembers being with Steve in New York for the Heisman Trophy presentation and all the excitement surrounding his brother during the 1994 season.
While Fred was trying to make his own way in the Canadian Football League — he was the original “Air McNair — they shared many long-distance calls that magical year. He recalls how much fun Steve had and how he always wanted to give everyone else credit for his accomplishments.
The same was true when Steve earned NFL co-MVP honors in 2003. He never got hung up on individual awards, though he did appreciate them. Growing up in a small, Mississippi town, the McNairs were raised not to obsess about possessions.
“If we didn’t have it,” Fred said, “we didn’t worry about it.”
Fred won’t lose sleep if his late brother never gets into the College Football Hall of Fame or the Pro Football Hall of Fame (he’s been nominated several times for the latter). Fred doesn’t spend his life campaigning for his late little brother, but he would like to see his accomplishments properly recognized.
If it’s only a matter of filling out a few nomination forms, one has to think Fred would be happy to take care of that. A miscommunication isn’t a good enough reason to prevent one of college football’s most prolific players ever from Hall of Fame entry. For those who watched McNair blossom outside the town of Mount Olive, he was indeed an icon.
It’s time for him to be immortalized as one.