John McClain offers a remembrance of McNair, “a homer for Houston.”
I’ve never known anyone I respected more than Bob McNair.
From the time I met him in the summer of 1997 until the last time I spoke with him earlier this season, McNair always wanted what was best for Houston.
“I’m a homer for Houston,” I heard him say so many times over the last 21 years.
Without Bob and Janice McNair, there would be no Texans.
McNair, 81, lost his five-year battle with skin cancer Friday night, and Houston lost one of its biggest benefactors.
McNair loved his adopted city so much that when Oilers owner Bud Adams moved his franchise to Tennessee in June 1997, McNair spent two years trying to convince the owners to give Houston an expansion team. No one else stepped up to find a replacement for the Oilers. He put his time, effort and money
into bringing the NFL back to our city.
McNair was a devoted husband and father who was deeply religious. He was an unwavering Republican who donated millions to the GOP through the decades. When it came to public office, he was no fan of Democrats.
McNair was honest. I never caught him in a lie. I never heard him curse. He was a true Southern gentleman. He had a terrific sense of humor, too.
McNair was always optimistic. He tried to see the good in people and situations. He was a positive thinker who gave a lot of thought to important decisions. He was generous, always looking to do something for others. He treated people the way he wanted to be treated.
McNair was so respected around the NFL by those who knew him. Other owners sought his counsel on so many league and team issues, as did commissioners Paul Tagliabue and Roger Goodell.
Not only did McNair bring back the NFL to Houston, he was the catalyst behind getting Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 and Super Bowl LI in 2017 for Houston.
I’ll never forget after the city was awarded Super Bowl LI at a league meeting in Boston how owners lined up to say they voted for Houston because of McNair.
For a story I did on him before the last Super Bowl at NRG Stadium, I calculated that Bob and Janice McNair had given away more than $300 million to philanthropic causes. That number has risen to more than $500 million in recent years.
“What’s the use in having money if you can’t help those who need it the most,” he said.
The first time I did an interview with McNair I was 30 minutes late getting to his River Oaks home. When I finally got there, I explained my late arrival. I went to the wrong house and was allowed by a housekeeper to wander around the living room of the McNairs’ next-door neighbor, former Rockets owner Charlie Thomas. When I realized my mistake, I high-tailed it out of Thomas’ house, jumped in my car and went next door to find the McNairs waiting patiently.
“Don’t worry, we won’t tell Charlie,” McNair said, laughing.
Before he was awarded the expansion franchise in October 1999, McNair spent a lot of time attending NFL meetings. He used to stroll into the media room, take a seat and talk to reporters. They couldn’t believe how unassuming he was and how excited he was to engage in conversations where other owners wouldn’t dare to be seen.
I attended a news conference McNair had in his office downtown in Pennzoil Place. Before it began, McNair came through a side door and went around the room, shaking hands and introducing himself to reporters, cameramen and photographers. Later, I asked him why he did that.
“Is there something wrong with it?” he said.
I told him there wasn’t anything wrong with it, that I’d never seen someone in his position do that.
After McNair got the Texans franchise, I told him he would no longer be afforded the privacy he enjoyed as a businessman. I found out several times he had donated money to specific causes, like after 9/11. He asked that I not write about it because it looked like he had told me and was blowing his horn. I apologized and reminded him that he was an owner, and things were different.
After McNair became an owner, he attended a league meeting in Palm Beach, Fla. He told me he was thinking about inviting some members of the media to go “on my boat for a dinner cruise.”
That boat turned out to be what I called a yacht, and 48 members of the media joined McNair, minority partner Chuck Watson and other team executives.
McNair told me the league warned him that some of the other owners wouldn’t like the idea of him taking the media on his “boat.” He laughed and said he didn’t care what they thought because he figured it would be “interesting.”
After the dinner cruise, when the last reporter left, McNair said he had had a wonderful time and had learned so much about the NFL.
“That was a lot of fun,” he said. “I don’t understand why the owners don’t like ya’ll.”
I told him to wait until the Texans lost a few games, and then he would understand.
From the time the Oilers left for Nashville until 2005, I covered the NFL. Traveled all over the league. After McNair became an owner, he was at his summer home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. I told him I was making a tour of training camps and was headed to the Giants’ in Albany before covering the Bills’ in Rochester.
McNair asked if he could join me at Giants camp. I picked him up, and we headed for their training camp. It’s rare for an owner to visit another team’s camp, especially unannounced. If he does, the team is supposed to get advance notice so it can roll out the red carpet and treat him like a head of state.
I don’t think I told anyone I was bringing McNair until right before we arrived, and they were stunned they hadn’t been given a heads-up. McNair never gave it a second thought. He was like a fan who got to hang out with Giants owner Wellington Mara while they watched practice and got to know each other.
Through the years, the owners got to know McNair as a person and as a businessman. He served on a lot of league committees. He chaired the powerful finance committee until this season.
Unfortunately, McNair was never able to reach his goal as an owner — to see the Texans win a Super Bowl for Houston.
McNair was mentally and physically tough. He fought two forms of skin cancer, the first time over a 10-month period in 2013 and 2014. He underwent multiple operations and endured chemotherapy, radiation and plastic surgery.
When the cancer returned this year, he met it head-on. This time, though, he couldn’t beat it, and Houston lost a good man, a longtime champion for our city who can never be replaced.