DON MCPHERSON

Don McPherson is the 2021 recipient of the William Pearson Tolley Medal for Distinguished Leadership in Lifelong Learning, presented by Syracuse University’s School of Education and, the 2020 National Football Foundation’s Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football.  These honors recognize a lifelong mission of service to the greater good. 

In 2019 McPherson published You Throw Like A Girl: The Blind Spot of Masculinity, which chronicled 36 years of harnessing the power and appeal of sport to address complex social issues and focuses on a quarter century of work on gender-based violence prevention.   

THE QUARTERBACK

As an athlete Don McPherson was an All-America quarterback at Syracuse University and is a veteran of the National Football League and Canadian Football League.  As captain of the undefeated 1987 Syracuse football team, McPherson set 22 school records, led the nation in passing and won more than 18 national “player-of-the-year” awards, including the Maxwell Award as the nation’s best player, the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award and the inaugural Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.  He was second in the Heisman Trophy voting.  In 2008 McPherson was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.  In 2013 Syracuse University retired his #9 jersey.  

McPherson has worked as a college football analyst for ESPN, NBC and BET and spent six seasons as the lead studio analyst for Sportsnet New York’s coverage of Big East and American Athletic Conference football.  In 2000, while a board member of the Nassau County Sports Commission, McPherson created the John Mackey Award, which recognizes college football’s outstanding Tight End.   

LIFE OF SERVICE

Since 1984 McPherson has delivered school and community-based programs addressing issues such as drunk driving, alcohol and substance abuse, bullying and youth leadership and mentoring.  For more than 19 years McPherson served as Associate Director of the communitybased organization Athletes Helping Athletes (AHA), coordinating the Student-Athlete Leadership Program, a mentoring and leadership program; growing the organization from a dozen schools on Long Island to more than 60 school districts on Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut. McPherson also delivered a leadership program to the incarcerated community at the Washington Correctional Facility in Comstock, NY.  McPherson also founded AHA Canada, bringing students from Long Island to Hamilton, Ontario Canada to help train and deliver the leadership program to schools in Hamilton. 

Upon retiring from pro football in 1994, McPherson joined Northeastern University’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society (CSSS) as national director of Athletes in Service to America, an AmeriCorps funded program that expanded the academic tutoring, diversity and inclusion and violence prevention programs of CSSS national (Lexington, KY, Reno, NV, Buffalo, NY and Austin, TX).  A featured program of CSSS was Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP), the first gender-violence prevention program to address issues of masculinity and the culture of sports.  MVP introduce the concept of “bystander behavior” to the field of domestic and sexual violence prevention. In 1996 McPherson succeeded MVP founder, Dr. Jackson Katz.  In addition to Katz’s pioneering approach, under McPherson’s leadership, MVP became the first program to conduct domestic and sexual violence prevention training to a professional football team (New England Patriots) and the National Basketball Association’s Rookie Transition Program.  McPherson also collaborated with the Liz Clairborne, Inc. to produce an “in-stadium” PSA campaign to reach college football audiences. 

In 2002 McPherson founded the Sports Leadership Institute (SLI) at Adelphi University, for which he served as Executive Director until 2007. The mission of SLI was to expand MVP and the programs of AHA to include more complex and contemporary issues and, bring academic research and youth engagement together addressing emerging social issues.  SLI convened the first national conference on “hazing” in high schools.  Concurrently, McPherson served as a consultant to Wrigth Risk Management, a leading insurance and risk management firm serving New York State schools and municipalities. 

Don McPherson has cultivated a body of work to address complex social issues and emerged as a pioneer and global thought leader and advocate for the prevention of sexual and domestic violence and, promotion of Aspirational Masculinity.  He has conducted workshops and lectures for more than 400 college campuses, community organizations and national sports and violence prevention organizations.  His programs and lectures have reached millions worldwide.  In 2023, 

McPherson partnered with the New York State Coalitions for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault he convened the first conference introducing Aspirational Masculinity and a comprehensive approach to the social ecosystem called Aspire New York. In partnership with the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, McPherson has launched Aspire New York with the New York Alliance of YMCA’s and selected schools from the State University of New York (SUNY) system. 

Don has twice testified before the United States Congress and has worked closely with the U.S. Departments of Education and Defense on issues of sexual violence in education and the military, respectively and, served as a consultant to the U. S. Department of Justice’s “Agenda for the Nation on Violence Against Women.”  He has provided commentary on innumerable national news programs and was featured in O Magazine and appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and, created produced and hosted “Training for Life” a life-skills TV show that examined a myriad of social issues and sports.  In 2012, Training for Life's episode on "Sports Parenting" was nominated for an Emmy Award. 

With decades-long experience in non-profit management, fundraising and philanthropy, McPherson served as a consultant with Changing Our Word, a global philanthropic advising firm based in New York City and was the first hire of the Hopewell Group, a boutique advising firm.  McPherson also played an active role in capital campaigns at Adelphi University and Syracuse University setting fundraising records at both institutions. In 2006, McPherson was an early member of Energeia, an academy of leaders/stakeholders on Long Island, committed to stewardship for the region and its unique challenges.  

HONORS AND RECOGNITION

Don McPherson has received several honors in recognition of his service, including the Frederick Douglas Men of Strength Award, given by Men Can Stop Rape, Champions for Change, presented by Lifetime Television, The Creative Vision for Women’s Justice, presented by the Pace University Women’s Justice Center, and a Leadership Award from the National Center for Victims of Crime.  McPherson received the George Arents Award, Syracuse University's highest alumni honor and Letter Winner of Distinction, the highest honor bestowed a former student-athlete. More recently, as mentioned, he received the William Pearson Tolley Medal for Distinguished Leadership in Lifelong Learning, presented by Syracuse University’s School of Education and the National Football Foundation’s Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football. 

BOARD SERVICE

Don McPherson has served as a board member, consultant and advisor for several national organizations including the Nassau County Sports Commission, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist, Family and Children’s Association on (Long Island, NY), ARC of Onondaga (Syracuse, NY) Ms Foundation for Women, the US National Committee for UN Women and the National Football Foundation, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and Stop it Now! McPherson was a member of the NCAA Task Force on Sexual Violence and the NCAA Board of Governors Commission to Combat Sexual Violence.  Currently he serves on the board of directors of the PBS network WCNY in Syracuse, NY and the NYC Chapter of the National Football Foundation and, is a member of the Solidarity Council of global NGO, Vital Voices.