Heisman winner Salaam found dead in Colorado park

He was everywhere, quite literally.

In 1994, when he was a 20-year-old Colorado junior, the Los Angeles Times reported how Rashaan played Pop Warner football as a youngster and hoped to make a name for himself at Lincoln High School. “If you’re going to be a school that has pride in its football program, well, now we had a national championship and a Heisman Trophy victor”.

Heisman trophy victor and former National Football League running back Rashaan Salaam has died at the age of 42.

One of the special ones was Rashaan Salaam, and the news of his passing early Tuesday hit like a sledgehammer. But, as he prepared to go to NY two years ago, he said, “I’m hoping to use my story to go and influence kids”.

“Now you’re the guy people want to meet”, he was told.

SEC coaches team: Alabama QB Jalen Hurts was among 11 Crimson Tide players making the coaches All-SEC teams. Almost half of his high school games were ended at halftime thanks to a mercy rule.

“I was fortunate enough to be in the right position to help hold him off”, Salaam told CUBuffs.com in 2004, “and then Tony came back and just pancaked him”.

I will miss my Heisman brother Rashaan Salaam.

“I remember him shutting us down, and not letting us celebrate, because we weren’t there yet, we were losing at the time”, former teammate Blake Anderson said.

“When he turned 13, Rashaan enrolled at La Jolla Country Day, a private school 30 minutes from downtown San Diego with annual tuition of $8,500”. Rashaan and I laughed a lot after practices because we had so many battles and fights.

When he chose to turn professional he immediately found success as the 19th pick in the 1995 NFL Draft. He also became the fourth college football player to rush more than 2,000 yards in a single season, and remains the youngest player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards. None the less he was taken from us too soon.

Things went downhill quickly from there. He struggled mightily with fumbles and wound up being cut after just three seasons. “Saw him & he signed autographs for all of us”. He told ESPN in 1999 that marijuana use also contributed to the end of his football career. “But we will know that the time we spent with Salaam was really cool”. Authorities say Rashaan Salaam has been found dead in a park in Boulder, Colo. What I liked about him is that he had a sparkle in his eye.