Cause Of Death For Jordan McNair Revealed

RANDALLSTOWN, MD — The Randallstown man who died after football practice at the University of Maryland was killed by heat stroke, his family said. Jordan McNair was 19 years old.

He died on June 13.

Now his parents, Tonya and Martin McNair, have created the Jordan McNair Foundation, which the organization says aims "to diminish the number of heat related deaths that occur in student athletes."

The Jordan McNair Foundation will sponsor initiatives in memory of the scholar-athlete, including a scholarship to the McDonogh School in Owings Mills and the Jordan McNair Training Facility in Baltimore.

McNair, an alumnus of the McDonogh School and Deer Park Middle Magnet, went to Maryland so he could be close to his family, according to The Diamondback, the University of Maryland student newspaper.

After a football practice at the campus in College Park, McNair was airlifted to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he received a liver transplant in early June, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up to assist his family with medical costs.

McNair was expected to be hospitalized for several months recovering from an undisclosed condition that the GoFundMe campaign organizers said had him fighting for his life.

CBS Sports reports that the university had not disclosed the cause of death for Jordan McNair out of deference for the privacy rights of the family, but now the family has released that cause of death on the website of a foundation that has been created in memory of McNair.

"He was an extremely talented football player and a humble and genuine human being. He embodied the essence of what it means to be a teammate," University of Maryland Football Coach DJ Durkin said in a statement after the teen's death. "Jordan was a fighter....Our team will continue to be inspired by the spirit of this brave fighter."

With reporting from Patch editor Dan Taylor.

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• Funeral Service For Jordan McNair Planned

Photo of Jordan McNair courtesy of Patch partner GoFundMe.