The death of beloved NFL reporter Terez Paylor in 2021 at age 37 was a tragedy for the football community.
In his honor, the University of Missouri, the school near which he worked for most of his career, and his own alma mater, Howard University, each created a scholarship designed to develop more young Black journalists.
Four years later, The Kansas City Star, where Paylor worked as a Chiefs beat reporter for many years, has dug up evidence that both schools have seemingly minimized Paylor’s relationship to the scholarships and pared down the race-based elements of the funds’ goals as universities around the U.S. attempt to avoid scrutiny around their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
“In some regards, it’s like Terez and our desire to help students of color has been erased,” said Paylor’s fiancée, Ebony Reed, a Mizzou grad and author. “Like other things that have been erased in this moment of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) backlash.”
Star sports columnist Vahe Gregorian reported this week that links to Paylor’s scholarship at Mizzou redirected to a generic fundraising page on the school’s site, with only a “perfunctory small-print mention” of Paylor. Likewise, at Howard, Gregorian initially could not find Paylor’s name listed in the “Designation” drop-down menu, where donors had previously been able to send money in his honor.
After reaching out to both schools, these technological breaches were fixed.
But at Mizzou, a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision led the university to remove racial and ethnic criteria from scholarships and funding. Meaning the intention behind the PowerMizzou Journalism Alumni Scholarship, launched in partnership with Missouri’s 24/7 blog, has been significantly diminished.
“The whole point has been to honor Terez; people loved him for who he was and what he was about,” Paylor’s friend BJ Kessel told the Star. “It’s just disappointing that the world has gotten in the way of honoring a good man we all knew.”
Gregorian reports that the fund at Mizzou is up to nearly $110,000 despite the university stripping the scholarship of its initial intention to create new pathways for disenfranchised young reporters.
However, the Howard fund has raised even more money ($140,000, according to Gregorian) and continues to support young Black journalists who embody Paylor’s tireless spirit.
The people of Kansas City, the NFL journalism community, and these two campuses all rose to honor Paylor after his untimely death. Cultural and political shifts in the country may be jeopardizing one of Paylor’s most potent legacies.