R U Ready 4 Some Football

[BullNBear52]

Chiefs Lineman Gets His Medical Degree, Then Heads Back to Practice
By Salim Valji
May 30, 2018

MONTREAL — In a black gown and a red tie, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif looked at ease making small talk with fellow graduates here as he waited to be called up to the stage to receive his degree. His name was announced, dozens of cheers erupted and a moment eight years in the making was finally complete: The Kansas City Chiefs guard was now the only active N.F.L. player to become a medical doctor.

After the ceremony, Tuesday morning on a hill in a city 335 miles from the nearest N.F.L. team, Duvernay-Tardif put on a white lab coat with his red Chiefs No. 76 on the back, now complete with the prefix “Dr.”

“It sounds pretty cool,” he laughed. “It’s an awesome feeling. That’s what has fed me over the past four years, whenever I’ve had challenges or obstacles in front of me, to continue to pursue both at the same time.”

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter

Laurent D. Tardif
?
@LaurentDTardif
This is it! Today I become a doctor! It also marks the beginning of a great new adventure for all 2018 graduates of @mcgillu Faculty of Medicine. #LDTMD #graduation #passion #nfl #chiefs

9:50 AM - May 29, 2018
6,372
1,449 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy

While the typical medical school journey in Canada is roughly four years, Duvernay-Tardif — who was drafted by the Chiefs in the sixth round in 2014 — had to delay his courses because of his burgeoning football career.

As an offensive lineman playing collegiate football for McGill University here, he’d often show up to practices in scrubs. In his draft year, he had to request special permission from the dean to play in the East-West Shrine Game in front of N.F.L. scouts. On the day he was drafted, Duvernay-Tardif had been at the hospital, helping in an emergency C-section. After he was selected by the Chiefs, he still had a full year of medical school to complete. He and the faculty agreed to split the remaining courses into three four-month segments, the last of which ended this spring.

Despite the late nights, long drives from Kansas City back to Montreal and postgame plane rides spent studying instead of sleeping, Duvernay-Tardif was never going to sacrifice his medical education for his football career.

“I love being a medical student. I love being a football player,” he said. “It’s important to build a career that you’re going to be able to do for a long time. Medicine is that.”

Sasha Ghavami has been Duvernay-Tardif’s Montreal-based agent since he was playing in Quebec’s junior college football ranks. He’s seen firsthand the sacrifice and diligence of Duvernay-Tardif’s past eight years.

“This is a guy who has been able to bring time management efficiency to a whole other level,” Ghavami said. “When he was with the McGill Redmen, he would finish his hospital rotations and then sleep in the locker room to be on time for the next morning’s practice because he had finished so late.”

Chiefs Coach Andy Reid has a personal connection to Duvernay-Tardif’s pursuit of medicine — his mother was one of the first women to graduate from the McGill University Faculty of Medicine. When Reid first met Duvernay-Tardif, he immediately threw his support behind the lineman’s goal of becoming a doctor.

“During the pre-draft interviews, Coach Reid was like, ‘This is awesome what you’re trying to do, and I’m going to help you to the best of my ability,’ ” Duvernay-Tardif said.

Two weeks ago, Reid and Duvernay-Tardif began talking about having “M.D.” on the back of his jersey, and an official request has been made with the league. His Chiefs teammates have even started soliciting his medical advice in the locker room, even though Duvernay-Tardif won’t begin practicing medicine until his playing days are over.

“A lot of guys ask medical questions, which is funny,” he said. “They’ll be like, ‘Hey I have a sore shoulder. What’s going on?’ ”

There was little time for Duvernay-Tardif to celebrate after his graduation ceremony. While many of his peers were out on the streets of Montreal toasting their hard-earned degrees, he was boarding a flight back to Kansas City. The Chiefs have O.T.A.s and Duvernay-Tardif had to get to practice.

But even though he has a list of accomplishments that includes being one of just a dozen N.F.L. players ever selected from Canada’s university football ranks and signing a $41.25 million contract in 2017, it’s clear that graduating medical school is much more meaningful for Duvernay-Tardif than anything that happens on the field.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been really, really proud of myself,” he said. “This is the first time that I feel like I’ve made it.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/sports/laurent-duvernay-tardif-nfl-doctor-chiefs.html?