Tim McNerney, a Washington & Jefferson senior twice named to the Presidents' Athletic Conference all-conference team, died early Thursday morning after he and a friend were the victim of what police believe was a robbery gone awry. McNerney was in the midst of an excellent senior season for a Washington & Jefferson team that had acquitted itself well against the best of Division III. Police are still trying to piece together the events that led up to McNerney's death, but it has been ruled a homicide.
John Morse, of SB Nation's Bring On The Cats wrote of the strange way McNerney's death went undetected by the general sports media:
As of last night, there was not a single headline in any major national sports news outlet about this tragedy. Not on ESPN.com, not on CBSSports.com, not on SI.com, not on SportingNews.com.
Yes, I am angry about this. I'm angry because a college football player was murdered, and the nation's unaware. Not some reserve on a team nobody's ever heard of, but a star for a team which once upon a time was a fairly major program. For chrissakes, Washington & Jefferson played California to a tie in the 1922 Rose Bowl. This should be a story. Maybe not a huge story, but it should at least be an acknowledged one. Tim McNerney deserves that much.
Friends and teamates remembered McNerney as protective of his peers and well-liked. Washington & Jefferson will play its scheduled away game against Thomas More College this afternoon.
In other sad news from the lower levels of football: Ronald Rouse, a Carolina high schooler, collapsed on the field and died last night. An autopsy is scheduled for today.
Police Investigate Death Of Washington & Jefferson Football Player [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Picture via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette