Steve 'Air' McNair

Stephen LaTreal McNair February 14 1973 July 4 2009 nicknamed Air McNair was an American professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League NFL for 14 seasons He started his first two seasons with the Houston Oilers before the team relocated to Nashville Tennessee becoming the first franchise quarterback of the Tennessee Titans He also played for two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens He played college football for the Alcorn State Braves with whom he won the 1994 Walter Payton Award as the top player in NCAA Division IAA McNair was selected third overall by the Oilers in the 1995 NFL draft He started six games in his first two seasons combined before becoming the teams regular starting quarterback for the 1997 season and remained the starting quarterback for the Titans through 2005 After the 2005 season he was traded to the Ravens with whom he played for two seasons before retiring He appeared in the playoffs four times with the Titans including their run to Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000 and made his final playoff appearance in 2006 with the Ravens He was selected to the Pro Bowl thrice and was an AllPro and CoMVP in 2003 He was the first AfricanAmerican quarterback to win AP NFL MVP and remains along with Cam Newton Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson only one of four to win the award He opened his own restaurant in Nashville which he named Gridiron9 He is a cousin of NFL linebacker Demario Davis He was married to Mechelle McNair from June 21 1997 until his death McNair split his time between a farm in Mississippi and Nashville Tennessee McNair had two sons with Mechelle Tyler and Trenton and two sons Stephen Jr and Steven OBrian with two other women before he and Mechelle married On July 4 2009 McNair was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds along with the body of a 20yearold woman named Sahel Jenni Kazemi in a condominium rented by McNair in downtown Nashville They had been involved with each other romantically The Nashville police declared McNairs death a murdersuicide with Kazemi as the perpetrator and McNair as the victim The Titans held a twoday memorial at LP Field on July 8 and 9 2009 where fans could pay their last respects to McNair During the 2009 NFL season every member of the Titans wore a commemorative 9 sticker placed on the back of their helmet to honor McNair