SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Former Florida State University football standout Paul McGowan spent years on the football field before beginning a second career serving the community as a Seminole County firefighter.
Now, more than two years after McGowan fell three stories during a firefighter training exercise, his attorney says McGowan is struggling with cognitive health issues and raises questions about what happened during the fall… did he receive the proper medical attention afterward, and did the incident contribute to his declining health?
McGowan was a standout middle linebacker for the Seminoles under legendary coach Bobby Bowden. He became the program’s first Butkus Award winner in 1987 and led FSU in tackles during his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons from 1984 through 1987.
He was inducted into the FSU Hall of Fame in 1994.
After his football career ended, McGowan traded his football uniform for firefighter gear, beginning a career with the Seminole County Fire Department that has lasted more than 25 years.
But his attorney says a training exercise roughly two and a half years ago may have changed the course of that career.
McGowan was participating in what’s known as a “bailout drill” at a training facility in Longwood when he fell three stories from a building.
The exercise is designed to teach firefighters how to escape during an emergency.
“If the person comes out of the window too hot or too fast,” attorney Mike Clelland said, the exercise can become dangerous.
Exactly how or why McGowan fell remains an open question and it appears there was no investigation done at the time into the fall.
Clelland is a former Longwood firefighter who knew McGowan on the job. He is now representing McGowan in his workers’ compensation case.
Clelland claims McGowan landed on his back and had blood coming from his nose following the fall. Despite that, Clelland said McGowan was not transported to a hospital and returned to work.
“We don’t have any information that anyone examined him,” Clelland said. “He did not go to the hospital.”
9 Investigates has requested the report documenting the initial training incident, but has not yet received it.
McGowan himself, according to his attorney, does not remember everything that happened that day.
McGowan is still employed by Seminole County, but he is no longer working in the field as a firefighter.
He now works in the county’s community paramedicine program, which sends personnel to places such as nursing homes to check on residents and address basic medical needs before they lead to unnecessary 911 calls.
His attorney says McGowan is now experiencing cognitive health problems, and his workers’ compensation case raises the question of whether those problems are connected to the training fall. Attorneys could argue that football, the fall, or something else contributed to it.
Seminole County Government confirmed it has received notice of McGowan’s benefits claim and said the matter is being investigated by county departments.
“The matter is currently pending and being investigated by the County’s departments. Because it is the subject of pending litigation, the County cannot comment on it at this time,” County spokesperson Chris Patton said in a statement.
The county did not say whether it would conduct a separate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the training exercise, including how McGowan fell and what medical evaluation or treatment he received immediately afterward.
Those questions remain unanswered as McGowan and his attorney pursue his workers’ compensation claim.
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