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Donald McPherson, Football, 1985-87
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Quarterback
 
1987 All-American

     The 1987 campaign was McPherson’s finest. The Maxwell Award winner as the college football player of the year and the Heisman Trophy runner-up, McPherson led the nation in passing efficiency with a 164.3 mark and set 22 Syracuse records, including the single-season marks for passing yards per game (212.8), touchdown passes (22), and most consecutive games with a touchdown pass (10).
 
     McPherson finished his SU playing career in 1987 with the program’s all-time passing yards, completions and pass attempts records. After graduating, McPherson, who continued his football career with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Oilers, currently works in the SU athletics department with the Life Skills program for student-athletes and as a consultant with the Orange Club. He is also an independent consultant and vice president of The Hopewell Group, Inc., a philanthropic advising and consulting company located in New York City.  Previously, McPherson served as Executive Director of the Sports Leadership Institute at Adelphi University, which he founded in 2002.  For more than 20 years, McPherson has used the power and appeal of sport to address complex social issues.
 
     Upon retiring from pro football in 1994, McPherson joined Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society as director of Athletes in Service to America. During this time, McPherson turned his focus to the issue of “men’s violence against women,” as director of Sport in Society’s Mentors in Violence Prevention Program.  Since 1995, McPherson has emerged as a national leader and advocate for the prevention of sexual and domestic violence.  He has conducted workshops and lectures for more than 200 college campuses, community organizations and national sports and violence prevention organizations, and was a facilitator at the first NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Conference in 1997.  His programs and lectures have reached more than one million people.
 
     McPherson has worked as a college football analyst for ESPN, BET and NBC and currently provides regular expert analysis on XM Satellite Radio.  In 2000, while a board member of the Nassau County Sports Commission, McPherson created the John Mackey Award, which recognizes college football’s most outstanding tight end. 
 
     He has served in a consulting and advisory capacity for several national organizations and currently sits on the board of directors of the Family and Children’s Association, Stop It Now! and the Ms. Foundation for Women. 

 
McPherson's Career Passing Statistics

Comp.

Attempts

Pct.

Yards

TDs

Int.

1983

0

1

.000

0

0

0

1984

11

29

.379

175

0

3

1985

85

159

.536

1,469

12

5

1986

142

269

.528

1,827

12

7

1987

129

229

.563

2,341

22

11

Totals

367

687

.534

5,812

46

26


McPherson's Career Rushing Statistics

Carries

Yards

Avg.

TDs

Long

1983

2

-2

-1.0

0

0

1984

34

42

1.2

0

18

1985

157

489

3.1

7

29

1986

191

523

2.7

6

31

1987

110

199

1.8

5

33

Totals

472

1,583

3.4

18

McPherson's Total Offense Statistics

Plays

Yards

Avg.

TDs

1983

3

-2

-0.7

0

1984

63

201

3.2

0

1985

316

1,958

6.2

19

1986

460

2,350

5.1

18

1987

339

2,540

7.5

27

Totals

1,181

7,047

6.0

64
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