Dave Huffman
| No. 56, 72 | |||||||||
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| Position: | Center | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | April 4, 1957 Canton, Ohio, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died: | November 21, 1998 (aged 41) Chanhassen, Minnesota, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 280 lb (127 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Thomas Jefferson (Dallas, Texas) | ||||||||
| College: | Notre Dame | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1979 / round: 2 / pick: 43 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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David Lambert Huffman (April 4, 1957 – November 21, 1998) was an American professional football player who was an offensive lineman for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and United States Football League (USFL) during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Huffman played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, winning a national championship with the team in 1977 and earning consensus All-American honors in 1978. He played professionally for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings and the Memphis Showboats of the USFL.
Early life
[edit]Huffman was born in Canton, Ohio. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, Texas, where he was a member of the high school newspaper staff.[1]
College career
[edit]He attended the University of Notre Dame, and played for coach Ara Parseghian and coach Dan Devine's Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team from 1975 to 1979.[1] As a junior, Huffman was a member of the Irish's 1977 national championship squad. As a senior in 1977, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American. His brothers, Tim and Steve, also played for Notre Dame. He was noted for his good humor, which included saying that during games he always wore red-colored elbow pads so that his mother could see where he was in the pile-ups.
Professional career
[edit]The Minnesota Vikings selected Huffman in the second round (forty-third pick overall) of the 1979 NFL draft, and he played for the Vikings from 1979 to 1990 with only one interruption. In 1984 and 1985, he also played for the USFL's Arizona Wranglers and Memphis Showboats. In his eleven NFL seasons, he played in 128 games.
Death
[edit]Huffman died in a car accident November 21, 1998, while on his way to the final Notre Dame home game of the season vs. LSU. He was survived by his wife, Cathy, a daughter, Jessica, and a son, Jack.[citation needed] Each year, the city of Chanhassen, Minnesota, where Huffman served as a Park & Recreation Commissioner after his playing days, hosts a Dave Huffman Memorial 5,000-meter run.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Dave Huffman Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine profile at databaseFootball.com
- ^ Dave Huffman 5K Memorial Run Archived 2008-11-19 at the Wayback Machine
- 1957 births
- 1998 deaths
- All-American college football players
- American football offensive linemen
- Memphis Showboats players
- Minnesota Vikings announcers
- Minnesota Vikings players
- National Football League announcers
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players
- Sportspeople from Canton, Ohio
- Players of American football from Canton, Ohio
- Road incident deaths in Indiana
- Thomas Jefferson High School (Dallas) alumni