Friends recall ‘gifted’ Salaam

’94 Heisman winner among Colorado’s greatest players.

Friends, ex-teammates and former coaches remembered 1994 Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam as much more than a football star upon hearing of his death in a park not far from the University of Colorado, where he stamped his name as one of the greatest players in the program’s history.

“This is a great loss to the lives he had touched,” said former Buffffaloes assistant coach Brian Cabral, who recruited Salaam to Boulder.

Ex-teammate Kordell Stewart, who went on to achieve the kind of NFL success that eluded Salaam, said, “This is a tough one. He was our jewel.” He said Salaam “never wanted to be celebrated, he just wanted to play football.

“He just wanted to be one of the guys, a big kid playing a child’s game, and he won the biggest prize there is,” Stewart said. “Football wasn’t who he was; it was just what he did. He didn’t care about his accomplishments. He cared about the people around him.”

Salaam was found dead Monday night in Eben B. Fine Park in Boulder, less than 2 mile s from Folsom Field, where he carved his name into the school’s record book from 1992-94. Police said foul play wasn’t suspected.

S a l a a m’s mot h e r, K h a - lada, told USA Today Sports on Tuesday that police said they suspect he killed himself. “They said they found a note and would share that with us when we get there,” Salaam’s mother said.

Dave Plati, associate athletic director at Colorado and a close friend of Salaam’s, said the former Buffffffffffffaloes star never let on that he was hurting: “When you were around him he was just the same old Rashaan. You know, effffffffffffervescent, jolly-go-lucky, smiling all the time, doing things for other people.”

There was just no way to tell Salaam “had these kind of demons inside him,” Plati added. “I was as close to him as anybody and loved the guy ... and wish I could have noticed or done something for him or wished that he would have called me.”

Salaam’s death stunned the Colorado football community, which this year celebrated a revival with the team’s 10-3 record, an appearance in the Pac-12 championship game and the Buffffaloes’ fifirst bowl bid in almost a decade.

“You talk about a young man who was smart, handsome, talented. He was very, very gifted. He was humble. He was a team guy,” former Colorado coach Bill McCartney told The Associated Press.

Salaam rushed for 2,055 yards and 24 touchdowns as a junior in 1994, leading the Buffffaloes to an 11-1 record, a win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl and a No. 3 fifinish in the fifinal polls.

“We are all hurting tremendously today,” said former teammate Blake Anderson, who lauded Salaam’s work ethic, strength and dedication.

S a l a a m was o n e o f t h e nation’s most prized highschool recruits coming out of eight-man football at La Jolla Country Day, a private school in San Diego. His father played freshman football at CU in 1963 before transferring to San Diego State to be closer to home.

“When we recruited him and got him to commit, it was huge,” McCartney said. “We knew that he was going to distinguish himself.”

The Chicago Bears made Salaam a fifirst- round draft pick in 1995, and he rushed for 1,074 yards and 10 touchdowns in winning NFC Rookie of the Year honors.

Injuries cut short his career. He played his last NFL game with Cleveland in 1999.