Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Patrick Mahomes and the great power of great responsibility
Since its advent in 1954, Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year (yes, Sportsman of the Year back then) has proven to be both a revealing and cherished honor. If it’s not quite the Nobel Peace Prize, it certainly seeks to recognize the most noble pieces of the sports landscape.
For decades now, though, that distinguishing spotlight eluded any Kansas City sports figure even as it occasionally focused nearby.
Once, it crowned then-19-year-old Kansan Jim Ryun (1966), the magnificent runner born in Wichita. Another time (1997) it focused on Dean Smith, the Emporia-born basketball coaching legend.
Across the state, SI in 1957 recognized Cardinals’ icon Stan Musial — whose character so embodied the ideal that his name remains entwined with the virtues celebrated annually with what amounts to the national sportsmanship awards in St. Louis.
But that neglect ended the last few days, abruptly and abundantly.
Patrick Mahomes and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif of the Chiefs were thus acclaimed, along with the NBA’s LeBron James, U.S. Open tennis champion Naomi Osaka and WNBA star Breanna Stewart.
The designation comes with a twist: Each is being appreciated under the banner, “SI’s 2020 Sportsperson of the Year: The Activist Athlete.”
(An aside: If SI hadn’t gone this way, and, in fact, even though it did, our vote goes to Duvernay-Tardif, the medical doctor and lineman who opted out of the season to serve in the COVID-19 trenches any way he could help in his native Canada. We’ve embraced his case before, most lately building off the aforementioned Musial Awards recognizing him accordingly.)
Between the endless consequences of the disastrous pandemic and a nation convulsed anew striving for racial equality after the George Floyd killing, the magazine noted the distress call to stand and be counted.
“There’s a choice to be made at moments like this,” it wrote. “We can turn inward, cowering from destructive forces that feel beyond our control, or work to bend the arc of history. That is the more difficult option, the braver path.”
And that path less traveled was indeed chosen by LDT and Mahomes, recognized for using “his platform as the NFL’s transcendent star to push the league to recognize the Black Lives Matter movement and players’ rights to protest.”
At considerable personal risk of various forms, each of them could have said these aren’t my problems to solve. Or why should I be a role model? But each also recognizes the Peter (Parker) Principle: “With great power comes great responsibility.”
(As a Spider-Man geek, I favor that reference … even if the notion essentially extends back to The Bible, Voltaire and Churchill, etc.)
It’s particularly part of the blessing and burden of being Mahomes that this is a concept he must face in some way or another every day of his life now, at age 25, as one of the most recognized and scrutinized people in the country.
Not just on the football field, where he already is making an increasingly compelling case that he’s the best player who ever lived, but also off it — where he doubtless has alienated some for taking the stands he has and surely has annoyed others for not being more of an outright activist.
Time will tell how much more powerfully Mahomes will wield his considerable platform. But here’s betting he will continue to extend his distinct voice. And there is no denying how much beyond his years his meaningful actions have been.
Such as the video that provoked action from the NFL. Or his advocacy (along with teammate Tyrann Mathieu, who also was in the video) to get out the vote. And helping pay for (along with his 15 And The Mahomies Foundation) the costs of making Arrowhead Stadium as a polling site for the Nov. 3 election.
We all know about this locally, of course. But it says something more to understand how Mahomes reverberates on a national (international, really) level.
While eight-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer-turned-doctor Jenny Thompson wrote on Duvernay-Tardif for Sports Illustrated, Doug Williams, the first Black quarterback to win the Super Bowl, poignantly captured some of the broader ramifications of Mahomes’ influence in the essay he contributed.
Referring to the video, Williams wrote, “A lot of great players voiced their support. But the one who stood out most, the one who made me say ‘Wow,’ was Patrick Mahomes.
“He is the best player in the NFL, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, the owner of the biggest contract in sports history. He is also a young Black man who understands the impact he can have on society. When players started putting that video together, he didn’t worry about his product endorsements.
“He didn’t sit back and say, ‘No, I’m not gonna do that—that’s gonna tarnish my reputation.’ It wasn’t about his reputation. It’s about social justice to him. It’s about what’s right. It’s about the way things should be. … As the best player in the NFL, Mahomes has the loudest voice. He forced people to listen.”
Williams recalled meeting Mahomes just once, briefly, at the 2017 NFL Combine. But in that moment, he identified something else about him that defines Mahomes and, in fact, speaks to the notion of sportsmanship he exudes: respectfulness.
For others. For the game. For the past. For his own fortunes. And, ultimately, for the greater good he knows he can influence.
“He wants to use his platform in ways we were not allowed to,” Williams added. “He wants to comfort those who need it, to lend a voice to the voiceless, to make the country better. … He is lucky he has the opportunities he has. We are all lucky he takes advantage of them.”
And we’re all lucky here to have Mahomes be both the face of the NFL and the face of the city. Having that coupled with the homage to the marvel that is LDT makes it all the more profound.
In this bizarre and trying year, the fact that each has accented the franchise’s first Super Bowl triumph in 50 years this way makes for more collective glory and pride for Kansas City.
And finally puts us on the SI sportsperson of the year map in resounding style.