From the O-line to the front lines
Work to tackle pandemic makes Duvernay-Tardif fitting candidate for athlete of the year
When the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced it was paying tribute to the off-field work of Kansas City Chiefs lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, nobody familiar with even the rough outlines of his story could have been surprised.
He is the six-foot-two, 320pound Montrealer who eschewed the offensive line to lend a hand on the pandemic’s front lines. He’s the McGill University medical-school graduate who deferred a $2.75 million (U.S.) salary — not to mention a spot in the starting lineup of the defending Super Bowl champions — to spend this NFL season studying online at Harvard while continuing to work as an orderly at the long-term-care facility where he has been a regular presence since the coronavirus began its dastardly spread.
Among multimillionaire pro athletes intent on maximizing short career windows, it was a rare move. So the idea that a set of Duvernay-Tardif’s medical scrubs are now on display at Canton, Ohio’s famed shrine is only fitting. As 2020 painfully grinds to a close, here’s guessing it won’t be the last time Duvernay-Tardif’s admirable life choice will be celebrated.
We’re a little less than a month away, after all, from that time on the calendar when a cross section of Canadian sports media types traditionally gathers at the Toronto Star’s offices to decide the winner of the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s athlete of the year. This time around, of course, the gathering will be virtual. And it’ll be surprising, at least from this perspective, if Duvernay-Tardif isn’t given serious consideration for the prize.
In most years, casting a vote for the Lou Marsh requires an apples-and-oranges comparison of disparate athletic accomplishments. It’s a complicated privilege, and the unique circumstances of 2020 could make the discussion around this year’s award especially tricky.
First, there’s the matter of whether or not the trophy ought to be given out at all. As Bruce Kidd, the 1961 Lou Marsh winner, was pointing out in a phone interview from his Toronto home this week, global strife has shelved the award in the past. For three straight years during the Second World War, the trophy wasn’t handed to any particular athlete but was instead dedicated to the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
So in a year when Canada’s
decision to pull out of July’s Tokyo Olympics led the world, Kidd said, there’s a case to be made that it’d only be right to honour those sidelined Olympians by calling off the Lou Marsh entirely. Too many great Canadian athletes to name have been excluded from competing on account of the pandemic. The lucky ones who have had the chance to build a resumé compete in largely high-revenue sports that had the resources to keep the lights on during lockdown. In other words, as much as Jamal Murray was spectacular in the NBA bubble, as sure as Alphonso Davies emerged as a compelling force in the soccer’s Bundesliga, there are those who would argue we’d be better off having no Lou Marsh winner than one pulled from such a limited field. The award shouldn’t come attached to an asterisk.
Maybe the athletes of the year are the ones who had the earlydays fortitude to pressure power brokers into doing the right thing.
“Canadian athletes in the Olympic sports took the lead in pressuring the (Canadian Olympic Committee) and the (International Olympic Committee) to postpone the 2020 Olympics in the interest of public health,” Kidd pointed out.
“And that meant that all of them were going to lose their competitive opportunity.”
Speaking of selflessly putting public health ahead of one’s personal aspirations, there’s also a candidate named Duvernay-Tardif, whose sport has continued during this global crisis, but who opted out of competition because, as he said in a statement July, he “must follow (his) convictions.
“Being at the front line during
this off-season has given me a different perspective on this pandemic and the stress it puts on individuals and our healthcare system,” Duvernay-Tardif said at the time of his opt-out. “I cannot allow myself to potentially transmit the virus in our communities simply to play the sport I love. If I am to take risks, I will do it caring for patients.”
Therein lies the question that’ll need to be tossed around should Lou Marsh voting commence: Precisely how much should an athlete’s off-the-field service to the community be weighed in an athlete-of-theyear candidacy? In most years, I’d likely argue it’s best to keep the debate within the confines of the arena. Stick to sports. Compare the accomplishments, not the athletes. But let’s be clear: This isn’t most years. And it only makes sense to acknowledge as much.
Kidd, for his part, said that if the award ends up being given out it’s his belief that an athlete’s out-of-competition resume ought to be considered, especially when it’s as relevant to the moment as DuvernayTardif’s work.
“In addition to his incredible athletic achievement, the leadership he’s played in combating the pandemic is highly commendable,” Kidd said. “I would say in 2020 we’ve got to take those kinds of factors into account when we recognize our top athletes.”
Duvernay-Tardif’s athletic achievement, for the record, was incredible. He was a starter for a Chiefs team that won the Super Bowl back in February, joining a short list of Canadians who have won the coveted ring. And though he doesn’t play one of his sport’s glamour positions — his job is to protect his quarterback — it said something that when Duvernay-Tardif injured his calf muscle in the midst of the championship game, the Kansas City coaching staff didn’t employ a substitute at his position. They decided even a hobbled Duvernay-Tardif was better than the alternative. And fair enough. When he signed a five-year contract worth about $42 million back in 2017, he was the fourthhighest-paid player at his position in the NFL. There’s never been a Canadian who has earned more money playing the sport on either side of the border.
Then again, money isn’t everything. Duvernay-Tardif, who is earning an opt-out stipend of no more than $300,000 this season, has said he intends to return to the NFL next season. To that end, along with pursuing his studies and performing his duties at the long-term-care home, he’s lifting weights regularly at the outdoor gym at his Montreal home.
“He works out Rocky-style, in the cold,” said his agent, Sasha Ghavami.
Choosing the winner of the Lou Marsh is never an easy calculation. The year Terry Fox won the award for running his heroic Marathon of Hope to raise funds for cancer research, it was Fox who pointed out the difficult nature of the exercise.
“How can you compare what I did to Guy Lafleur scoring 50 goals?” Fox said in an interview with the Star.
How much should the selection committee factor in an athlete’s off-the-field contributions to the community, especially when those contributions were made in the face of a life-changing pandemic? It’s a question that’ll need to be answered if and when the debate commences.