Arizona State hockey player Matthew Mayich is fighting for his life after collapsing during practice. Tragedies like this can be avoided.
While he is not the first young athlete severely harmed by heat-related illness in American sports, he should be the last.
On 29 May 2018, my son Jordan McNair collapsed during a strenuous football practice at the University of Maryland. By the time he arrived at the hospital, he was overheated and never recovered.
For two weeks, as Jordan fought for his life through intensive care and an emergency liver transplant, one question kept coming: “What did we miss?”
Jordan was going to play football at a Big Ten university.
My education came through a baptism by fire.
One of the simplest explanations of exertional heatstroke has stayed with me. When your core body temperature rises above 104F, it is like putting your body inside a microwave.
What happened to Mayich in Arizona isn’t only about what happened on 20 August 2026.
Every organization has layers of protection, and every layer can have weaknesses, the holes in the Swiss Cheese Model.
By the time Jordan arrived at the emergency room, more than an hour and a half after he collapsed, his core body temperature was about 106F. My son never came home.
The on-field cardiac arrest of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin shows that having a disciplined emergency action plan goes beyond heat-related injury.
Martin McNair is the father of Jordan McNair and founder of The Jordan McNair Foundation.