McNair’s hometown is overrun by mourners

MOUNT OLIVE, Miss. (AP) — The family and friends who grew up with native son Steve McNair didn’t have to say goodbye to the ex-NFL quarterback by themselves Friday night. The tiny town of Mount Olive had plenty of company.

People — both black and white, young and old — drove in from nearby states and joined the locals parking cars and trucks on the side of the four-lane divided highway that runs beside Reeves Funeral Home. Some left cars across the highway, dodging traffic to join the line of people waiting to pay their last respects.

Frankie Delancy of nearby Harrisville worked with McNair’s mother, Lucille. Delancy wasn’t surprised to see the long line twisting through the funeral home parking lot, onto the paved road and out onto the shoulder of the highway.

“He was a great person. You can see the turnout here for him. If you can’t tell by looking at this, I don’t know,” she said.

Tommy Milton played with McNair at Alcorn State and said the turnout tells the story of the man McNair was.

“He could break all barriers — black and white. He was one of us,” Milton said.

The visitation in McNair’s hometown followed two days of mourning in Nashville where thousands remembered the 2003 co-MVP of the NFL who led the Tennessee Titans to the 2000 Super Bowl. A capacity crowd of 8,000 is anticipated today at his funeral in Reed Green Coliseum on the University of Southern Mississippi campus in nearby Hattiesburg.

It was a far different turnout than the modest funeral for Sahel Kazemi, the 20-year-old girlfriend who shot the married McNair to death in his sleep on the Fourth of July and then shot herself in the head. Her brief funeral in Florida was closed to outsiders.

An officer helping direct traffic in and of the funeral home could not estimate the crowd. Mount Olive has 1,000 residents, and McNair’s death left them stunned and distraught. Only those who showed up in the final 15 minutes of the open-casket visitation were not allowed in to ensure it would end by 10 p.m.

Glenda Felder, 54, followed McNair’s career since he was drafted by the then-Houston Oilers in 1995. She has his rookie card and went to Nashville and Baltimore to watch him play for the Titans and later the Ravens. She drove 61‚Ñ2 hours from Baytown, Texas, to pay her respects and also plans to attend the funeral.

“He was a great man despite the end. He was a great man. I can’t judge him, can’t judge anyone. We all make mistakes,” she said.

By the time McNair left for Alcorn State in Lorman, Miss., where he set records and made a run at the Heisman Trophy, he had become the pride of Mount Olive, the kid who could make everyone smile. He seemed perfect not just for 21‚Ñ2 hours every fall Friday night, but every day.