CAMPUS LIFE
PLAY BY PLAY
Sidelined but Still in the Game FORMER STAR QUARTERBACK CARVES OUT NEW ROLE, FULL LIFE Tim Strachan ’99 was one of the nation’s top five high school quarterbacks 20 years ago this summer, ranked among the likes of Peyton Manning, when he dived into a wave at Bethany Beach, Del., and hit a rock. The waves tossed him around. Something rubbery— his own arm—smacked him in the face. He floated in and out of consciousness. He’d broken his spine at the fifth vertebra, paralyzing him from the chest down, impairing the mobility in his arms and shattering his plans for college and NFL greatness. Since then, Strachan became a lawyer on Capitol Hill, married his elementary-school sweetheart and had two daughters, and still had a long career in football—just not the one he’d imagined. “Life’s evolved a lot,” says Strachan, who’s been broadcasting Terp games for 17 years. “If I had never gotten hurt, I wouldn’t have been around football for as long. I could have fizzled in college.” The youngest of four brothers, he started playing at age 5 and grew into a perfect quarterback specimen Strachan played in a summer at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds. At DeMatha league in Prince George’s Catholic High School, he attracted the County in 1993, just months before his accident. attention of college coaches, including Joe Paterno of Penn State and Mark Duffner of Maryland, who made verbal offers before his senior year—unprecedented at the time. Instead, his senior year was consumed with recovery. Strachan spent two months in intensive care, then three more in a rehabilitation hospital. Weakened by the surgeries and pneumonia, he lost 50 pounds, and had to work every day to regain his strength and relearn basic functions like brushing his teeth.
Tim Strachan ’99 says that after 15 seasons of reporting from the sidelines, being up in the broadcasting booth at Byrd Stadium means “I can talk anytime I want.”
Yet both colleges honored their offers to Strachan. Born and raised in Kensington, Md., he chose to stay close to home. With the Terps, he served as a student assistant coach, helping to do film breakdowns and facilitate practice. Then veteran Terp broadcaster Johnny Holliday gave him an opportunity to be in the game-day action as a sideline commentator. “People told me how bad I was that first year, but I loved it,” Strachan says. Still relearning how to use his arms, he nearly dropped the hand-held microphone the first time Holliday asked for his opinion on air. Holliday remembers things differently. “He was incredible from the first game. I never had to tell him anything at all,” he says. “He’s got that natural ability to communicate what he’s seeing and translating for the audience to paint the picture of what’s going on.” Strachan also honed those communications skills as an inspirational speaker. He tells his audiences, ranging from schoolchildren to Fortune 500 CEOs, that it’s important to set lofty goals and work hard, but at the same time, enjoy the journey. “Ten years ago, I didn’t know I’d be here today,” he says. “Wherever I am in 10 years, that’s where I’m supposed to be.”–KS
He’s got that natural ability to communicate what he’s seeing and . . . paint the picture of what’s going on.
”
—johnny holliday, veteran Terp broadcaster
10 TERP SPRING 2013
”
TOP PHOTO BY LISA HELFERT; BOTTOM COURTESY OF TIM STRACHAN