Tim Strachan was determined to watch his DeMatha Stags in the 2024 Washington Catholic Athletic Association football championship.
On a cold November night, while battling cancer from a bed at Sibley Hospital, he checked himself out against doctors’ orders.
Strachan, in a wheelchair from a diving accident suffered more than 30 years prior, made his way to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis — not just to watch, but to call the game for a local high school sports streaming service.
DeMatha coach Bill McGregor was stunned to see his former player in attendance.
“I had to come and see a win,” Strachan told McGregor at the time.
He got one. The Stags won 16-7. After the final whistle, Strachan checked himself back into the hospital.
“It has to be the toughest broadcast performance in the history of high school football,” said Kevin Ricca, Strachan’s close friend and fellow commentator for the streaming service, 1st Amendment Sports.
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Strachan, admired for his resilience and steadfast positivity, died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 49.
Once a top-five quarterback prospect heading into his senior year, Strachan’s football career was cut short after he was paralyzed from the neck down in August 1993, when he dove into shallow waters at Bethany Beach.
He went on to be an attorney, motivational speaker and call Maryland football games for 22 years alongside Johnny Holliday at the Maryland Sports Radio Network.
“I just wish that everybody had a chance to meet him [and see] how uplifting he was,” Holliday said. “The thing I’ll remember about him is how strong he was, how he could feel like he could do anything, anything at all, and no complaints.”
Strachan was ranked among the country’s top quarterbacks alongside Peyton Manning by a football magazine in the 1990s.
When McGregor visited him in a Philadelphia hospital after his accident just before his senior year, Strachan apologized. He promised he’d return for that season’s playoffs.
He didn’t make it back as a player. But Strachan returned to the locker room for the season finale against Carroll, where teammates erupted upon his arrival. He also returned for each of DeMatha’s two playoff games.
His teammates rushed to embrace him, tears streaming down their faces.
“The locker room was absolutely electrifying,” McGregor said. “I’ll never forget the love that the kids had for him, and the love he had for that team.”
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DeMatha, the No. 4 seed, went on to win both games and capture the 1993 WCAC title.
Penn State coach Joe Paterno honored Strachan’s full scholarship, as did former Maryland coach Mark Duffner. Choosing to stay close to home for treatment, Strachan enrolled at Maryland, where Duffner made him an offensive student assistant.
Strachan attended all practice and team meetings.
“What he put on the line every single day as a person for us all to be around and admire was just phenomenal,” Duffner said.
While a student assistant, Holliday learned Strachan was a communication major and helped him join the Terps’ radio crew as a sideline reporter. Ricca recalled his determination to become mobile enough to travel and broadcast with Holliday.
For the last decade, he also called high school sports for 1st Amendment Sports alongside Ricca.
“The first game he did was like he’d been doing it all of his life,” Holliday said. “He could almost predict what the next play was gonna be … and I’ll be darned if it was true almost 100 percent of the time.”
Beyond broadcasting, Strachan earned a law degree from Georgetown in 2004 and held roles at the Federal Communications Commission. He returned to speak at DeMatha and to athletes at Maryland.
Maryland baseball coach and DeMatha graduate Matt Swope had Strachan speak to his team to share his story and give players perspective beyond wins and losses.
“His legacy is just simply one of perseverance. I don’t even know another word,” Swope said.
Strachan was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago. McGregor and Ricca described a steady stream of people — including former teammates, family, DeMatha alumni and local players — who visited him in his final weeks.
Scott McBrien, a former Maryland and DeMatha quarterback who broadcasted with Strachan, visited him on Monday. He leaned in when Strachan had something to say.
Strachan grinned and said, “I was the best quarterback in the history of DeMatha.”
