Steve McNair’s football story has been told enough. Fans know how he went from a star quarterback at HBCU Alcorn State to a Heisman Trophy finalist and ultimately to the No. 3 pick in the 1995 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers.
He led the Tennessee Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV. He was the NFL’s co-MVP with Peyton Manning in 2003 and was considered one of the toughest quarterbacks to play due to his physical style during 13 seasons with the Oilers/Titans and Baltimore Ravens. His number 9 was retired by the Titans in 2019 and he was inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame (2012) and the College Football Hall of Fame (2020).
But questions surrounding McNair’s death have persisted for more than fifteen years.
‘Untold: The Murder of Air McNair’ is the new Netflix documentary that seeks to tell the story of how he became an NFL star and fan favorite while delving into the circumstances surrounding his July 4, 2009 murder in Nashville .
However, the documentary doesn’t offer much beyond what has already been told.
A 1998 photo of Steve McNair as a member of the Tennessee Oilers. (Larry McCormack/The Tennessean via Imagn)
There’s the official story from authorities: McNair was shot and killed by his mistress, 20-year-old Sahel “Jenni” Kazemi, who committed suicide alongside him, reportedly amid financial worries and the realization that 36-year-old De old McNair had more than one extramarital affair.
There are mentions of other theories viz that of private detective Vincent Hilla former Nashville police officer who wrote a book noting the problems he saw in the investigation. The documentary also raises questions about Adrian Gilliam, the convicted felon who sold Kazemi the gun used in the crime.
McNair’s friend, Wayne Neely, discovered the bodies and is shown in the film offering cash to detectives while being interviewed, but there is no explanation as to why a man who was a person of interest would offer police money.
McNair’s close friend and Alcorn State teammate Robert Gaddy discussed a $13,000 dispute over a business venture with McNair that left them on shaky terms, but he expressed regret about whether that prevented him from helping McNair. Neely called Gaddy from the crime scene, and it was Gaddy who called the police.
One of the film’s most poignant moments sees Gaddy discussing the gravity of life amid conspiracies suggesting he had something to do with McNair’s death and would not say more out of respect for McNair’s family, including his widow Mechelle and his four children. .
Mechelle is not interviewed in the film.
In the documentary, Jeff Fisher, McNair’s coach at Tennessee, said some things about McNair’s death didn’t add up, but he didn’t want to speculate about what might have led to his death.
The film is less than an hour long and there was an opportunity to delve more into McNair’s post-football story. But hearing so much about McNair sometimes made the football player feel out of place. You can’t tell his story without discussing his NFL career, but what Fisher said to McNair after losing the Super Bowl seemed less important than the conversations they could have had after his career.
What was McNair’s mindset about life after football? Are there lessons to be learned?
Kazemi was supposed to have heard about another womanLeah Ignagni, who also saw McNair in the days before his death. During the film, a tape of Ignagni’s interview with police was played, in which she says she had only seen McNair for a short time and was just having fun with him. However, learning more about this doesn’t tell us anything about McNair and his life after football.
Mechelle has spoken candidly in the pastin which she said she was aware of other people involved with her husband, but did not know Kazemi.
Clearly, McNair was well-liked. Even Kazemi’s ex-boyfriend, Keith Norfleet, admitted in the documentary that McNair was his favorite player growing up. He discussed the awkwardness of breaking up with Kazemi, only to see her dating his favorite footballer.
But there’s no more to say as to why McNair was beloved off the field, which might have helped explain why he remained associated with Nashville after the 2007 season. I learned more about Norfleet than I did about McNair or Kazemi.
Perhaps it was best to let McNair’s football legacy stand alone, rather than repeating how he died.
(Top photo: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)