Texans honor Uvalde with orange shirts; DeMeco Ryans’ family has been personally impacted by gun violence

HOUSTON – DeMeco Ryans’ family has been impacted by the scourge of gun violence, and the Texans have embraced the city of Uvalde in the wake of a tragic school shooting a year ago.

One year after the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, the Texans honored the city by wearing orange shirts to raise awareness about gun violence.

For the Texans coach, it was personally significant considering what his family has experienced.

“I’ve lost a cousin to gun violence, and unfortunately like a week ago another cousin of mine was shot, innocent bystander,” said Ryans as the Texans recognized Uvalde on Wednesday morning in advance of National Gun Violence Awareness Day on Friday. “So, for me, it is personal, because it’s near and dear to my heart because I’ve lost family. So, it is touching, and it does hit home to me, as well as to those in Uvalde, as well. I think it also hits home for me, I have three young kids.

“So, when you send your kids off to school and you have to even have that thought in the back of my mind that, ‘Man, are my kids going to be safe? Am I going to see them?’ it’s not the mindset you want to have when you’re dropping your kids off at school. For all of us, it’s something we shouldn’t have to worry about. It’s something we shouldn’t have to discuss, but it’s here. We want to make sure we bring awareness to it because it is a real issue that hits home for a lot of people.”

The Texans hosted the Uvalde High School football team at a home game last season against the Indianapolis Colts, wearing decals on their helmets, visited the team in Uvalde, including former coach Lovie Smith, chairman and CEO Cal McNair and his wife, Texans foundation vice president Hannah McNair, and linebackers Christian Kirksey and Kamu Grugier-Hill, provided new uniforms from the team and Nike as well as donating a total of $600,000 to the Robb School memorial fund.

The connection and relationship between the Texans and Uvalde runs deep, especially for director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer Roland Ramirez. He’s a Uvalde native who knows many of the families affected by the shooting that claimed 19 students and two teachers’ lives.

“As you guys know, a staff member of ours, Roland Ramirez, is our head athletic trainer, and it’s a place where he grew up,” Ryans said. “He knew a lot of people there who were involved in that situation. And it’s a situation that’s near and dear to our hearts. We want to make sure we support that situation. The senseless gun violence that’s going on, we want to use our voice as an organization as a team to make sure we put an end to these senseless shootings that are going on around our country. Sometimes, we can grow numb to it because it happens so often.

“We just have to bring awareness to it and understand the severity of the situation where a lot of kids unfortunately are losing their lives to something that’s senseless. We e just want to make sure we’re supporting it and get out in front of it. It means a lot to us as an organization. As I told our players this morning, it’s bigger than just being great football players. I want our guys to understand that we’re more than just players. We’re also great men, great leaders in our communities, and our guys are in support of it. And I’m proud of the way they represented from last year, seeing it from afar, all the way up until now.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com