Former Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George speaks during an announcement at the team’s training facility on Wednesday in Nashville. The Titans will retire both George’s No. 27 and late quarterback Steve McNair’s No. 9 during a ceremony at the team’s home opener this year.NASHVILLE – Nobody with the Tennessee Titans will ever again wear the No. 27 of former running back Eddie George or the No. 9 of late quarterback Steve McNair, players who helped the franchise through its difficult relocation from Houston to the Volunteer State and then to its lone Super Bowl berth.
Amy Adams Strunk, the team’s controlling owner, announced Wednesday the franchise will retire both numbers Sept. 15 at the Titans’ home opener against the Indianapolis Colts.
“This is a big moment for me personally because I love these guys, and I know my dad loved these guys and he will be so happy and proud that we were honoring them today,” Strunk said of her late father, Bud Adams, who founded the franchise in 1960 as the Oilers of the old American Football League.
The Titans said this will be the first time an NFL team has retired either a No. 9 or 27, giving the league 153 numbers that have been retired. George and McNair will join six other former Oilers and Titans whose numbers have been retired: quarterback Warren Moon (1), running back Earl Campbell (34), safety/punter Jim Norton (43), offensive guard Mike Munchak (63), offensive tackle Bruce Matthews (74) and defensive end Elvin Bethea (65).
All except Norton are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which is one reason George called having his number retired a “huge honor.”
“I couldn’t imagine having a day like this where my jersey (is) retired by myself,” George said. “It has to be with Steve. It’s totally appropriate to have us go in together.”
George, who played eight seasons for the team and made four Pro Bowls, remains both the franchise’s all-time leading rusher with 10,009 yards and all-time scrimmage yards leader with 12,153. McNair, drafted a year before in 1995 at No. 3 overall, played 11 of 13 seasons for the club and remains the its No. 2 all-time leading passer (27,141 yards) behind only Moon (33,685).
McNair, killed July 4, 2009, leads the franchise with 76 wins as a starter. As teammates, he and George went 80-48 for a .625 winning percentage with only one losing season – 7-9 in 2001 – and reached the 1999 season’s Super Bowl and two AFC championship games while also making two other playoff appearances and winning two division titles.
Mechelle McNair, his widow, was not able to attend Wednesday’s news conference. Team announcer Mike Keith read a statement she sent.
“Steve would be truly honored to know that he was held in such high esteem by you,” Mechelle McNair wrote. “Retiring his jersey is a really big deal for us. It is a tangible reminder for me and the boys to know that No. 9 will forever be held in the highest regard in the Titans nation.”
McNair remains one of only three quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for 30,000 yards and run for 3,500 yards with Fran Tarkenton and Steve Young. McNair earned three of his four Pro Bowls with the Titans and shared the NFL season MVP with Peyton Manning in 2003 as the first black quarterback to win that award.
George, who won the Heisman Trophy while at Ohio State, called a wild-card playoff victory over the Baltimore Ravens in January 2004 as his favorite personal memory. Asked for a favorite game moment for McNair, George said when the quarterback was named MVP. George recalled all that McNair went through with injuries and thoughts of retiring to dramatic comebacks such as coming off the bench for a divisional win at Pittsburgh in 2000.
At the time, the Titans cheered McNair for 10 minutes when then-coach Jeff Fisher announced McNair had been voted MVP.
“We saw all he had to go through to get to that point as an African-American quarterback. He had to overcome a lot of stigmas and a lot of stereotypes to prove himself in this league,” George said.
“So it goes beyond just the numbers, it goes beyond just what you see on the stat sheet. To see him in the locker room getting taped up and having to take naps because he was tired and beat up and have to get up the next day and go out and fight, that was our culture. That’s who we were.”
Current Titans coach Mike Vrabel congratulated both George and McNair, noting he was lucky enough to have George as a teammate at Ohio State. Vrabel recalled hitting McNair in a playoff gamed.
“We had some great matchups against the Titans,” Vrabel said. “Those two guys were a huge part of their success here, so we’re very well aware of what they’ve done here for the Titans. Just would like to say congratulations to them.”