Wayne Messam
Wayne Martin Messam (born June 7, 1974)[1] is a former American football wide receiver, businessman, and politician serving as the mayor of Miramar, Florida, a position he has held since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the Miramar City Commission in 2011 before defeating incumbent mayor Lori Cohen Moseley in the 2015 election. Messam is also a general contractor and owner of a construction firm.
Wayne Messam
Yvonne Garth
Darlene Riggs
Angela Messam
3
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
208 lb (94 kg)
Messam ran for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 United States presidential election. He officially launched his campaign on March 28, 2019.[2] He suspended his presidential campaign on November 20, 2019, having failed to qualify for any of the Democratic debates.[3]
Early life, education, and football[edit]
Messam was born in South Bay, Florida[4] to Delsey and Hubert, who had both emigrated from Jamaica.[4] When the family came to the United States, Hubert worked as a migrant farmer in the sugarcane fields of Florida's Glades region.[5]
After graduating from Glades Central High School in Belle Glade, Florida,[6] Messam attended Florida State University, where he played as a wide receiver for the Florida State Seminoles from 1993 through 1996. He was a member of the 1993 national championship team[4] and caught 62 passes for 793 yards and four touchdowns during his college football career as a Seminole.[7] He graduated from Florida State in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems.[8]
After not being selected in the 1997 NFL Draft, Messam signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent [9] and was released on August 4 of that year.[10]