• JEROME SOLOMON: A CLASS ACT.
Standards were set by owner McNair so the Texans would be a first-class organization
When the NFL awarded an expansion franchise to Houston, the team didn’t even have a name. It had an owner. When the team began hiring personnel — head of media relations, a general manager, a head coach and others — and eventually settled on the name Texans, it had no players. It was a team without a team. But it had an owner. Tony Wyllie, hired as the vice president of communications two years before the Texans took to the field in a game in 2002, remembers being at the New York Giants’ training camp with Bob McNair in 2001 when the Texans owner shook hands with Houstonian and future Hall of Famer Michael Strahan.
Strahan stopped the introduction short when he heard McNair say he was the owner of the Texans.
“You are the Texans,” Strahan said with a laugh.
He was joking, but it was true.
Robert C. McNair, who passed away at the age of 81 on Friday, is, was and always will be the Texans.
McNair is the reason the NFL returned to Houston five years after the Oilers left town.
“Bringing the NFL back to Houston was a crowning achievement, but he was so much more than that,” Wyllie said. “He not only left a large imprint on the city of Houston with his philanthropic endeavors, but he had a lasting impression on so many people. He was such a kind, caring and generous man, who had a huge influence on me both personally and professionally.”
McNair never bragged about who he was, or what he had done. It is not often that someone so accomplished has so little desire to point out said accomplishments.
McNair took a seat next to Wyllie on a flight once and handed him a brochure about an MBA program at Rice.
“I like the decisions you have made and I want you to grow as an executive,” McNair told Wyllie.
Not only did McNair present the educational opportunity to Wyllie, he wrote a recommendation for admission, paid the full tuition and fees, then stood and applauded like a proud father when Wyllie walked across the stage at graduation.
As was the case with most of his philanthropic endeavors, McNair did not allow Wyllie, who is now the senior vice president with Washington, to promote his giving.
Officially, McNair has given more than half a billion dollars to various organizations, with the bulk of it going to education.
He started a scholarship program that dramatically increased college enrollment in his hometown of Forest City, N.C.. He gave untold millions to the University of South Carolina, his alma mater, and Columbia College, where his wife, Janice, attended, starting a thriving scholarship fund for out-of-state students. He made a $100 million donation for a scholarship program to recruit leading physicians and scientists from around the world at Baylor College of Medicine.
“Every time I found out about something he did, I wanted to promote it, but he would repeat to me the Bible verse from Matthew …,” Wyllie said. Matthew 6:3-4. “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
“He was passionate about education and the opportunities to learn and grow under him were never ending,” Wyllie said.
McNair, a devout Christian, was also passionate about the Texans.
“I don’t want there to be any confusion about the fire inside of him to win,” former general manager Rick Smith said. “There was a fire that burned in his belly to win.”
The idea McNair valued money over winning is ridiculous.
The Texans are a winning franchise financially because McNair had the foresight and business acumen to maximize a great opportunity.
McNair took every on-thefield defeat to heart, whether it was a playoff game or season opener, a last-second collapse, a total wipeout or a comeback attempt that fell short.
Immediately afterward, drained and defeated, McNair would occasionally talk about what went wrong and sometimes get into why, but he absolutely went out of his way not to criticize a player or a coach.
“Accountability was important to him,” Smith said. “But he had the philosophy that there was really no need for him as an owner to criticize publicly, because everybody in the building was on the same page.”
That McNair didn’t put winning above all else is a fair criticism from fans who wanted more from his franchise, which has never advanced to a conference championship game or the Super Bowl. It is also a worthy of praise. A man of conviction and strong religious principles, McNair wouldn’t put aside his values for the sake of an extra touchdown or two. He didn’t expect his team to be made up of perfect angels, but he wasn’t about to have a roster full of scoundrels.
The occasional bad apple made his way onto a Texans roster. But those were few and far between. The standards were set high prior to acquisition via the draft or free-agent signings, and held just as high once a player was on the payroll.
Was that the best way to build an organization that wins? Maybe not.
Was that the best way to build a winning organization? Without a doubt yes.
Whatever the criticism the Texans have rightfully deserved through their existence, no one with credibility has said McNair did not run a first-class organization.
McNair wasn’t the best owner in the NFL, but such acknowledgement wasn’t a priority for him. Individual accolades weren’t his goal.
He wanted his franchise to be thought of as the best. Pity that he will not stand on the sideline for the first quarter of a championship game, or celebrate a title victory for his team.
But when that day comes, it will be because of him.
The franchise lives on, but the saddest day in franchise history was Friday.
That was the day the Texans died.