HOUSTON, TX. (THECOUNT) — Houston Texans owner Bob McNair — who made a fortune in energy plants and brought the NFL back to Houston after the Oilers bolted for Tennessee in 1997 — has died, TMZ is reporting.
McNair died peacefully in Houston Friday surrounded by his wife, Janice, and family by his side, the team announced. McNair had reportedly been battling skin cancer for several years now. McNair’s son, Cal, is expected to continue to run the team.
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McNair was awarded the 32nd NFL team in 1999 and paid a whopping $700 million for the expansion team that would ultimately become the Texans, which joined the league in 2002. He was the team’s owner since the franchise’s inception.
While McNair was one of the most powerful owners in the NFL, he was no stranger to controversy. McNair drew tons of backlash in October 2017 when he said, “you can’t have the inmates running the prison” when it came to players kneeling in the NFL. source
McNair apologized but his players still let him have it — star WR DeAndre Hopkins skipped practice in the wake of the comments and tons of players took a knee during the anthem a couple days later.
Texans president Jamey Rootes released a statement saying McNair “was an amazing champion for Houston and worked hard to make sure our city received maximum value from the presence of the Texans and the NFL … We will all miss him dearly.”
McNair is survived by his wife, four children and 15 grandchildren. He was 80.