LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Many people dream about being picked to play in the NFL and Draft Day is when many of those dreams come true.
Las Vegas native Chris McLemore was drafted by the Raiders in 1987.
The team was located in Los Angeles at the time.
He said that was the start of his dream coming true.
"I played for a few years with them," McLemore said. "I played with Bo Jackson and Howie Long."
The Valley High School grad said the day he was drafted was special.
"It is exciting because once it actually happens and you get drafted, it is like something you've waited for since you were a little kid and you say I want to play in the NFL," McLemore said. "Then you get drafted. It is unreal, a dream come true, and then a lot of work comes behind that."
He said watching the draft years later brings back some of those feelings.
"I can imagine what these guys feel, especially the guys going [in] the first and second round and so forth and so on," McLemore said. "They played college ball, Pop Warner, high school, and now that dream is coming real to them."
The running back went on to also play for the Indianapolis Colts. Following an injury, he turned his focus to running a number of businesses and now he plans to open a new company in his hometown of Las Vegas.
"After I got done playing, I really wanted to understand business so I did that for many years," McLemore said. "It has really helped me to move into my new venture, which is a business that consists of a distribution company for precooked BBQ product."
He adds that he also gives back to the community through his nonprofit Tuck And Run.
"My nonprofit caters to homeless kids. We're able to push kids who are at risk in that area to go further in life," McLemore explained.
Growing up here, McLemore said he never thought Las Vegas would become the sports city that it is today and how things have come full-circle.
"Even when people thought it was going to get a team, I never thought it was going to be the Raiders," McLemore said. "It is a blessing that it is the Raiders."
