Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes pens tribute to late NFL writer Terez Paylor
While walking my dogs about a week ago, it hit me again that Terez Paylor had passed away.
The shock of Paylor’s death shortly after Super Bowl LV has mostly worn off, but sometimes it still doesn’t seem possible he’s gone. Unlike many of my colleagues at The Star, I wasn’t a close friend, but we kept in touch after he became Yahoo Sports’ Senior NFL writer. It’s hard to accept I won’t see him again.
I’m not the only one with these feelings, as evidenced by Peter King’s latest “Football Morning In America” column for NBC Sports.
During the summer, King usually gives a guest a chance to write his column. This week, King asked five people to share their thoughts on Paylor’s passing at the age of 37.
The first is Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Here is an excerpt of what Mahomes wrote from the “Football Morning In America” column:
“One of the reasons I’m writing this today is that I feel we can’t let his legacy go dim. He deserves to be remembered, and to impact future journalists, for years to come,” Mahomes wrote.
“Terez was just 37 years old. He had decades left to be a beacon for so many young journalists — particularly minority journalists. Terez didn’t get to be a national writer and forget where he came from. He knew as he rose in the business that he was a role model for minority journalists. He definitely knew who he was talking to, who he was writing for. It was for the football audience, yes, but it was also for a generation of journalists he was influencing and hoped would follow his path.
“He knew he didn’t see many people from his race, people who looked like him, climbing the ladder in sports journalism. He wanted that to change, and I respected the heck out of him for that.”
Mahomes also mentioned the Terez A. Paylor Scholarship at Howard University, which was created by the Kansas City Star in partnership with The Wall Street Journal and Yahoo Sports, where Paylor was working at the time of his death.
If you would like to donate to the scholarship, here is the link to Howard University’s giving portal. Under “Tribute,” note that the gift is made in memory of Terez A. Paylor. Under “Designation,” click on “Other” and write in “Terez A. Paylor Scholarship.”
This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 8:36 AM.
