Busy time for Laurent Duvernay-Tardif
When Laurent Duvernay-Tardif collected his medical degree from McGill this month, his mother said she was glad he was going to get a chance to relax after four years of juggling medical school and his career as an offensive guard with the NFL Kansas City Chiefs.
But relaxation doesn’t appear to be part of his DNA.
The day after he graduated, Duvernay-Tardif was back in Kansas City for a Chiefs training camp.
He returned to Montreal on June 15, and hosted a series of sports days for elementary school students at Concordia, Bishop’s and McGill, all part of the Laurent Duvernay-Tardif Foundation initiative to promote physical fitness.
“The idea of Laurent relaxing is absurd,” said Sasha Ghavami, Duvernay-Tardif ’s longtime friend and agent. “He goes back to Kansas City on July 26 for the training camp, but he has lots of work to do to keep in shape and make sure he’s ready for camp.”
Duvernay-Tardif took some time Tuesday to meet Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante. Then, later in the day, GoDaddy Canada announced Duvernay-Tardif has become a spokesman. The company, which sets up domain names and websites, revealed the football player relaxes by making wooden bowls. With some guidance from Joliettebased woodturner Gilbert Besnard, Duvernay-Tardif has been producing bowls, which are available for sale through the GoDaddy-created website tourneurdesbois.ca. The proceeds go to his foundation.
While Plante recognized Duvernay-Tardif ’s unique achievement — he’s the only active player in NFL history with a medical degree — the league passed on a chance to recognize that accomplishment. He asked for permission to add the letters MD to the back of his jersey, but the request was denied.
Duvernay-Tardif thought the nameplate would underscore the importance of education, and serve as an inspiration.