J.R. McNair ’04 was a four-year letterman at fullback. He ended his career with 1,949 rushing yards and 29 rushing touchdowns, holding the school record for rushing touchdowns in a game with five (tied with Shawn Graves). As a senior the team won the 2003 Southern Conference Championship and advanced to the NCAA semifinals. Among his vast number of campus activities, he served as student body president and was selected to Phi Beta Kappa. A start-up expert, he has helped almost 10,000 small businesses and start-ups. He resides in Atlanta with his wife Casey and their children William, Christian, Elijah, Lemuel, Julia Rose and Luke. 

How did you decide to attend Wofford?

I only started football one year in high school, and even though I rushed for over 1,600 yards, nobody knew who I was my junior year. I wasn’t on anyone’s radar. I remember getting letters from a couple of schools, but then coach Wade Lang was at Starr’s Mill High School watching film and he saw me on their film. According to the story he got up, thanked them and then came over to Mount Zion where I was and made an offer to come to Wofford. At the time I didn’t know where Spartanburg was, let alone Wofford College. Coach Lang impressed me and I went on several visits. I felt the coaches were going to allow me to do more than just play football. Me and my family liked it and I decided to go to Wofford and the rest is history. 

What is your favorite Wofford football memory?

I would say going up 14-7 in Death Valley against Clemson in 2001. I was named the team’s player of the week for that game. The night before the game, we gathered up the team at the hotel and I wanted everyone to tell the player beside them what you like about them. We went around and it was amazing and had us so energized. When we got up the next day it didn’t matter who we were playing, we were going to get them. We had the lead before we realized where we were. The depth that Clemson had allowed them to come back, but without that depth I think we would have won. That was one of my favorite memories and it was amazing the energy that we had after spending that night bonding as brothers. 

What is your favorite memory at Wofford? 

The most interesting memory I had was my senior year when I was student body president. I had to go and speak to a group of prospective students in Leonard Auditorium with President Dunlap in the morning and then I had to go change clothes and play a game. I scored a couple of touchdowns that day. Then I left there and sang two solos in the choir for Wofford Singers with Gary McCraw and Christi Sellars. After that I got to spend some time with my family, but it was cool to experience all those things in one day. 

Do you have a favorite Wofford professor or mentor that impacted you?

When I first came to Wofford Dr. Lefebvre was my advisor and we spent a lot of time together. I spent time with President Lesesne and President Dunlap. Dean Bigger was somebody that when I was student body president she was always there. Dr. Goldey was the advisor for the Gospel Choir which I was president of and we spent a lot of time. I learned from everybody and I loved talking to people. I was a curious kid and I am a curious adult, which I think makes me good at what I do. I love to learn from people and the great thing about Wofford was it didn’t matter if it was talking to Dwayne Harris in campus safety or some of the maintenance crew, we all had a common thread that I could communicate with people about and I think that is what made it so special. It seems like I had a bunch of parents, older brothers and sisters. If you were willing to talk to people, people would talk to you. All of the coaches, Coach Ayers, Coach Lang, those were people that were pivotal in my career, but I can go on and on. My philosophy professors Dr. Kaye and Dr. Michelman, all of those different people that influenced me. A lot of people ask ‘what can you do with a philosophy degree’ and I say it didn’t teach me what to think, but how to think. As a consultant, that’s all I do every day is think. 

How did competing as a student-athlete prepare you for life after Wofford?

Well, lots of hours on the football field and then having to keep your grades up along with all of the other extracurriculars. What it helped me to do was to understand that busy was a relative term. My busy was a different kind of busy from other people. Even now, married with six kids and running two businesses and I am very active in my community in philanthropy and in my church and other organization, including mentoring youth. I think that came from at Wofford I was doing a lot of things and it caused me to make sure I was making use of every second of the day. You can’t waste time when you are a student-athlete and that is something that I carried over into my life. I don’t like to waste my time and as a student-athlete you learn to how to manage your time well to get things done. 

Can you describe your career path? 

After my senior year, I thought I was going to the NFL. I had an agent and my roommate Jimmy Miner had an opportunity with the Rams in rookie camp as a punter. I got my first job offer my junior year from BMW and I had three jobs offers when I graduated that were great. But I only had one shot to do this thing called football and I knew if I wanted to pursue it, it I had to be right after college. So after graduation I was working five hours a day training and working at Olive Garden at night. During that time, I had people come to me asking for help with their business. When the smoke cleared, I had a business. I got a new agent and got a contract with a team in Germany. I led the team to a championship and set a few records overseas. I came back and started work doing some websites. That first month I was out passing out cards in parking lots. By the end of the first ten months, I had hired two or three people and was doing about $250,000 in revenue. We have continued to grow and since we have been in business we have helped almost 10,000 companies. What I do now is a media company, events company and consulting. We just did a huge production called the Velocity Small Business Summit at one of our studios. I just find opportunities and invest in them and go from there. (For more on his business, visit - https://www.jrmcnair.com/) 

What is one piece of advice to give to current Wofford student-athletes?

Network while you are at Wofford. Don’t wait until you leave. When you are a student-athlete, that is a badge of honor and people want to engage with current student-athletes. Once you graduate, you are alumni and the same as everyone else. When you are at school and have an opportunity, you should network with the people that are your classmates, because you are never going to have the opportunity to be around that many smart and influential people in your life. You want to network with your current audience base and you want to network with alumni while you are a student-athlete. Alumni want to help current student-athletes. I think that is the biggest thing.