The family of University of Maryland offensive lineman Jordan McNair, who died of heatstroke during a team workout in 2018, has reached a $3.5 million settlement with the school.
Details of the settlement were revealed Friday (Jan. 15) when a meeting agenda was posted for the Maryland Board of Public Works on Jan. 27, when the agreement is expected to be approved, CBS reports.
Jordan’s parents, Marty McNair and Tonya Wilson, issued a joint statement after reaching the agreement, according to ESPN.
RELATED: University Of Maryland Admits Football Player Who Died After Workout Didn’t Receive Proper Care
“This has been a long and painful fight, but we will attempt to find closure even though this is a wound that will never, ever fully heal,” they said.
“We are focused on honoring Jordan’s legacy so that his death was not in vain. This includes protecting student athletes of all levels of competition, increasing awareness, education, and prevention of all heat related illnesses, empowering student athletes, and introducing legislation nationwide so that no parent should have to wait this long for closure where their child has been treated unfairly or unjustly.”
The 19-year-old died on June 13, just weeks after participating in a football off-season conditioning session, the first of his sophomore season, at Maryland’s turf outdoor practice field on May 29.
RELATED: Olympic Legend Rafer Johnson Passes Away At 86
An independent medical report shows that there were multiple issues with McNair’s treatment, including failure to recognize that he was having a heat illness, failure to assess his vital signs and not having proper cooling devices.
The report also states that at least an hour had passed before a football trainer dialed 911.
University of Maryland Athletic Director Damon Evans and then-university President Wallace D. Loh issued an apology to the McNair family during a family meeting in August 2018. And said the “university accepts legal and moral responsibility for the mistakes that our training staff made on that fateful workout day.”
Adding, “The university owes you an apology. You entrusted Jordan to our care, and he is never returning home.”
D.J. Durkin, the head coach at the University of Maryland when McNair died, was fired in October 2018 by Loh.
The university notes that it has added cooling stations, increased the length of breaks during practice, began testing players’ hydration, increased more trainers and doctors at athletic events, since McNair’s death.
(Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
