Anyone that ever encountered Dan McNamee and his family knew they were in the presence of some pretty special people. That became obvious to more than just there closest acquaintances when Dan, as a sophomore at Bridgeport High School, was injured in a football game in 1995.
The injury on a cool evening at Magnolia High School in New Martinsville left Dan paralyzed. And while McNamee will be the first to tell you that he’s long since moved on from thinking about what might have been, those that know Dan, his late mother Caroline, his father Jerry or any of Dan’s four brothers, they’ll tell you the impact of that situation – and the impact of the McNamee family on so many others – lives on nearly two decades later.
Count Kyle Collier among those impacted by the McNamee family and someone who has an ever-lasting bond because of it. Collier, a producer at WYMT-TV in Hazard, Kentucky, grew up around the McNamee family and in particular got to know Dan’s brother Chris. It was through Chris that Collier felt that telling the story of Dan McNamee might be something the community would be interested in knowing about.
“Growing up, I knew Dan’s story, but I also knew there are so many people back home in Kentucky that didn’t know what happened to him. All they see is this guy out at games and around town in a wheelchair,” said Collier. “They not only didn’t know why he is in that wheelchair, but they don’t know the humble person I got to know on so many Friday nights. They didn’t know the impact a community made on him and he and his family made on a community. That’s the point that this story is going to try to encompass.”
The story grew, originally, from a one-shot segment into what will now be a series of stories to air this November. With that in mind, Collier and his crew headed to West Virginia earlier this week – first to Magnolia High School where they talked with former football coach Dave Cisar – and then back to Bridgeport. On Monday and Tuesday of this past week, many individuals who were on hand or involved during and after Dan’s injury were interviewed for the segment.
McNamee was also on hand. And even if he wasn’t up for the interview, which he said he was, Dan was glad to be back in town.
“The main reason I wanted to do this because I was able to come back to Bridgeport. I started a new job and took my only vacation day the rest of the year to be here so this is worth it,” said McNamee. “I wanted to see (BHS journalism teacher) Mrs. (Alice) Rowe, (former football) Coach (Wayne) Jamison and (physical therapist) Mike Martin. That was plenty of a reason to come here, but I like the way the story is heading from what Kyle has told me about.
“They’re going to show how I’m doing after the injury and show it as a community story,” he continued. “It’s going to be done from the point of view of how things are today in the community of Pikeville and how Bridgeport helped us so much during my injury and recovery. Both places were so important in getting me where I am today.”
During Tuesday’s interviews at Jamison Field, McNamee held court with former educators, coaches and any other well-wishers that happened to drop by. Despite the heat of the day glaring off of the Jamison Field artificial surface, McNamee was all smiles as Collier did his work and WYMT reporter Eric Eckstrom interviewed individuals.
So why focus on McNamee now, nearly 20 years later?
Collier said it was a bit beyond the fact that the McNamee family is a known commodity in the area even if many don’t know what led to Dan’s injury. In fact, he said it goes back to his relationship with the family.
“This is a little more personal. The McNamee family is more than just a family I know; they’re more than just an acquaintance. They’re family to me,” said Collier.
That relationship between Collier and Chris McNamee goes back to when he was roughly seven years old. Collier would be on the football field at Pikeville watching Chris coach and Chris took a liking to Collier, who wanted to be a kicker. Through Chris, he met Tim McNamee, the middle of the five McNamee brothers who actually had a tryout in the NFL. Tim McNamee took his own time and worked with the impressionable Collier on his kicking game.
Had the interaction stopped there, Collier likely would have been indebted to the McNamee family he had gotten to know. Instead, it went well beyond that and Collier got to see what it was that made the McNamee family so respected. It came when Collier was 22 years old and in Washington, D.C., doing intern work.
“That was back in 2010 and my house got flooded and my dad was home alone. This was a very serious flood and Chris just canceled his team’s football practice so he could help a guy out that he knew from the past,” said Collier, whose voice slightly cracked with emotion. “That says all you need to know about Chris McNamee and what type of people the McNamee family represent.”
That day is likely as embedded in Collier’s memory as the incident for Dan McNamee is in both his and his own family’s memory. On that day in 2010, the flood took away more than material belongings – it also took the life of his grandmother.
“It was a tough time,” he said. “Maybe this is a way for me to give something back.”
When Collier decided to do the story, he contacted Chris McNamee. Chris got in touch with his youngest brother and the story blossomed from there.
“Whenever people watch this story, there won’t be a dry eye if they’re tuned in to the newscast that day, but it will be a good cry. They’ll see that this is a man who never asked for anything to be handed to him and people would have given him a pass had he done that. That’s not who he is,” said Collier. “There’s something amazing about Dan and the McNamee family in general.
“The people of Bridgeport are the reason he is what he is because they rallied around him. You combine that with what his parents did and you get what you have today,” Collier continued. “You have a teacher like Alice that got him involved in journalism and helped him to find a connection between here’s who I am today and here’s how I can still live my passion of football. Eventually, that led to a realization that he needed to focus on academics and he became a straight A student that set things up for where he is today. What you have now is guy that, yea, is in a wheelchair, but he has no desire for anyone to look at him differently. At any time, Dan McNamee’s story is one worth telling.
Click HERE to read the sports blog on Dan finding closure on the accident.
Editor’s Note: Top photo shows BHS educator Mrs. Alice Rowe, while the second photo is of Dan and WYMT's Kyle Collier. In the third picture, former BHS coach Wayne Jamison sits down for an interview and in the next photo he shares a laugh with Dan's wife Nikki. Bottom photo shows former BHS assistant Coach Richard Iaquinta, Dan and former Magnolia player Drew Mason. WYMT-TV’s stories will be hyperlinked to Connect-Bridgeport at the time they are run. We will post the dates once they are finalized.
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