McNair has been active in football since his college years playing for the Alcorn States in Lorman, Mississippi. He retired from playing professional football in April of 2008. A year after his retirement, he was found dead in a murder-suicide.
Steve McNair was born on February 14, 1972, in Mount Olive, Mississippi as Stephen LaTreal McNair. His father was Selma McNair and mother was Lucille McNair. Growing up, he had four brothers named Fred, Jason, Michael, and Tim.
McNair attended the Mount Olive High School and participated in various sports activities including football, baseball, and basketball. He led the Mount Olive Pirates to the state championship and for his performance, was picked as an All-State Selection.
Offered a full scholarship by the University of Florida to play running back, Steve McNair declined the offer and chose Alcorn State University due to his desire to play quarterback. His record of 14,496 passing yards and total offensive yards with 16,823 career yrds in the Football Championship Series still stands to date.
Steve McNair's name was drafted in the 1995 NFL Draft where he was the picked in the third overall by the Houston Oilers who had a new head coach, Jeff Fisher. He was the highest drafted African-American quarterback in NFL history with him being signed to a seven-year contract.
In his first season, McNair did not get much time at the field with him only appearing in the last two series. The following season, he remained as a backup for Chirs Chandler.
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It was only in 1997 that McNair made it into the starting roster of the team. He ended the season with 2,665 passing yards and 13 interception, the least for a single season in the franchise history. He also had eight rushing touchdowns and 624 yards on the ground which was the third-highest total for a quarterback in the history of NFL.
The season of 1998, Steve McNair set career high passings with 492 attempts, 289 completion, 3,228 yards and 15 touchdowns for the team. He further minimized his interceptions to ten. The team changed its name from Oilers to Titans for the 1999 season. Diagnosed with an inflamed disk, McNair took some time off playing due as he was in need of surgery. During his leave, Neil O' Donnell kept the team going strong.
After the 1999 season, McNair's contract was renewed with a six-year contract worth $47 million USD. McNair gave some of his best performance in the game in the 2001 season. He had passing yards of 3,350, 264 completions, 21 touchdwons and the quarterback ratings of 90.2. It was the season that he was named for the first time to the Pro Bowl.
In 2003, the Titans had 12-4 record which was the same record as the Colts, but Indianapolis wound up taking the AFC South division championship due to their two win over Tennessee. That year, Steve McNair and Peyton Manning were named Co-NFL MVPs. At the end of the season, McNair had to pass for 20,000 yards and run for 3,000 yards becoming the youngest player in the NFL history to do so,
McNair sat out most of the games of the 2004 and 2005 season due to injuries that he had suffered. McNair was traded to Baltimore Ravens in 2006 for a 4th-round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. McNair's performance kept on declining and he retired from professional football in April of 2008. He was named as the thirty-fifth greatest quarterback of the NFL's post-merger era in July of 2012.
Steve McNair married Mechelle McNair on June 21, 1997. He had two sons of with his spouse; Tyler and Trenton and had another two sons Steve LaTreal McNair Jr. and Steven O'Brien McNair from his other affairs. There is not much information about the women who he had a relationship with.
McNair was having an extramarital affair with his girlfriend Sahel Kazemi, which only came to light after his death.
Steve McNair was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds on July 4, 2009, along with the body of his lover Sahel Kazemi. The two were involved with each other romantically. It was reported to be a murder-suicide committed by Sahel Kazemi.
At the time of Steve McNair's death, he was estimated to have the estate worth of more than $19 million. He was one of the successful NFL players of his time and had a good salary. However, since he was murdered, he had not prepared any last will and testament. All of his assets were frozen pending probate of his estate.
McNair's widow went to the judge to ask for a portion of the assets be unfrozen to handle the expenses and care needed for his children. The judge agreed to the plea and each of his four children received $500,000.
