Donald G. McPherson (born April 2, 1965) is a former

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He spent seven seasons in the NFL and CFL with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and Ottawa Rough Riders. He was drafted by the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

after a college career at Syracuse University during which he won the

Maxwell Award The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the college football player judged by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and National Collegiate Athletic Association head coaches and the membership of the Maxwell Football Club to be the best al ...

, the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award and finished second in the 1987 Heisman Trophy voting. He also played for the

, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Ottawa Rough Riders. His accomplishments during his tenure at Syracuse propelled him to be inducted into the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

College Football Hall of Fame announced on May 1, 2008. After retiring from football in 1994, McPherson joined the staff of Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society, before becoming the first executive director of the Sports Leadership Institute at

Adelphi University Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher ed ...

. As a feminist and

social activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...

he has founded several outreach and mentoring programs, and regularly speaks at college campuses as a critic of

gender role A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...

s, stating that the standard constructions of masculinity and

femininity Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered f ...

both limit men's emotions and overall well-being as well as contribute to "gendered violence" such as domestic violence,

stalking Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term ...

, and

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

. In this capacity he has testified before hearings of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. McPherson is currently a college football commentator for Big East football on regional sports cable network

SportsNet New York SportsNet New York (SNY) is an American regional sports network owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, LLC, itself a joint venture between the Fred Wilpon (which owns a controlling 65% interest) Sterling Equities, Charter Communications th ...

. He is the younger brother of former NFL player and pastor

Miles McPherson Miles Gregory McPherson (March 30, 1960) is the pastor of the Rock Church in San Diego, a motivational speaker, and a former NFL football player. History McPherson grew up on Long Island. He attended the University of New Haven, where he maj ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McPherson, Don 1965 births Living people Adelphi University faculty African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football All-American college football players American football quarterbacks American social workers Canadian football quarterbacks College Football Hall of Fame inductees Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Houston Oilers players Ottawa Rough Riders players Sportspeople from Brooklyn Players of American football from New York City Philadelphia Eagles players Syracuse Orange football players African-American feminists American feminists Male feminists College football announcers 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportspeople Players of Canadian football from New York (state)

See also

References