Tuesday, 29 Dec 2020. 10:29
MONTREAL – Rarely has an offensive lineman in football enjoyed such notoriety. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif has left his mark on the year which is ending and not just because he became the first Quebecer in history to win the Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The one we now know by his initials LDT had already attracted the admiration of many by leading his professional career in the NFL and his medical studies.
But the year 2020 will have consecrated him as an inspiring personality on all forums. At the height of the first wave of COVID-19 in the spring, Duvernay-Tardif responded to the call of Prime Minister François Legault to go and lend a hand in a CHSLD.
And in July, he became the first NFL player to skip the season in order to avoid being a vector of contamination of the virus in the community.
His decisions have earned him many testimonies of recognition. Sports Illustrated magazine selected him among its five sports personalities of the year and he was a co-winner of the Lou Marsh Trophy along with left-back Alphonso Davies.
Before turning the page on this year like no other, the 29-year-old athlete and doctor gets another demonstration of the impact of his contribution. He finished second behind Davies in the poll for the Lionel Conacher Prize awarded by The Canadian Press to the country’s male athlete of the year. Duvernay-Tardif garnered 25 of the 67 votes (37.3 percent) from the country’s directors, journalists and sports commentators.
“For a Canadian to win the Super Bowl as a starter is already exceptional. If we add to that the social reach of LDT, it then becomes a must ”, underlined Michel Tassé, director of sports at the Voices of Eastern Granby.
“Several excellent choices, but it is the only one who has truly transcended his sport”, for his part estimated Jean-François Tremblay, director of sports at The Press +.
No regrets
Despite this wave of praise which he received, Duvernay-Tardif remains humble and modest. He recalls that the real heroes this year are the healthcare workers.
“When I decided not to take part in the next season, my gesture was not more heroic than those of other people,” he said earlier this month.
“That I am considered in the nominations is really touching. (?) These honors, I dedicate them to all healthcare workers. “
A man of challenges, the one the Chiefs drafted in the 6th round in 2014 plans to resume his career in the NFL next season with the hope that the spread of the virus has been brought under control.
“I haven’t turned the page. It was just a necessary break, he told a video conference hosted by the University of Ottawa earlier this month. In three or four years, in 10 years, I will look behind me and I can tell myself that I made the right decision in 2020.
“Sometimes taking a break from a career can make you grow. It can make you think. It can make you a bigger person. “
And by the time he reunites with his Chiefs teammates, he has no intention of taking it easy. Between his two to three days a week in a hospital setting, his Masters in Public Health at Harvard, which he does virtually, physical training and other projects, LDT will continue to be a source of inspiration to many.
