With Peter King on vacation, guest writers are filling in to write his Football Morning in America column. This week, because the Kansas City Chiefs announced they will be honoring former NFL writer Terez Paylor at an upcoming preseason game, King’s column was all about Paylor who unexpectedly passed away this past February at the age of 37.
Along with some of Paylor’s sports media peers, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes paid tribute to Paylor. Paylor was the Chiefs beat writer for the Kansas City Star during Mahomes’ first two years in KC and the franchise QB described how appreciative he was of how Paylor did his job.
“I thought Terez was what a big-time NFL writer should be. He asked insightful questions, not cliché questions. I always knew when he was going to interview me that he’d be prepared. He’d have done his homework. I think some of the best stories written about me came from him—he asked questions that made me think, and so I’d give him good answers back.”
Mahomes never forgot that and revealed that when he was about to launch his own foundation, he gave Paylor the story. Even though by that time, Paylor became a national writer for Yahoo, Mahomes trusted Paylor to tell that story.
Mahomes felt like Paylor’s memory shouldn’t be forgotten and that he hopes Paylor’s legacy will result in more minorities entering into journalism.
“One of the reasons I’m writing this today is that I feel we can’t let his legacy go dim. He deserves to be remembered, and to impact future journalists, for years to come.”
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“He knew as he rose in the business that he was a role model for minority journalists. He definitely knew who he was talking to, who he was writing for. It was for the football audience, yes, but it was also for a generation of journalists he was influencing and hoped would follow his path.”“He knew he didn’t see many people from his race, people who looked like him, climbing the ladder in sports journalism. He wanted that to change, and I respected the heck out of him for that.”
