Alex Higdon (born September 9, 1966) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and professional football in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) with the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

for two years.

Early life and career

Higdon played football, baseball, basketball and track for the perennial athletic power

Princeton High School Princeton High School may refer to: *Princeton High School (Illinois), Princeton, Illinois *Princeton Community High School, Princeton, Indiana *Princeton High School (Minnesota), Princeton, Minnesota *Princeton Junior-Senior High School, Princeton ...

Sharonville, Ohio Sharonville is a city largely in Hamilton County, Ohio, Hamilton county in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 13,560 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Of this, 11,197 lived in Hamilton County and 2,363 lived in the southeast co ...

, where he was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame. He starred at tight end on the 1983 State Champion football team which ranked number two in USA Today's National High School Football Final Rankings. Among the many awards received during his senior year, Higdon was the 1983 Ohio Lineman of the Year and named a Consensus First-team All-American by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'', and

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...

. Higdon also excelled academically as he was awarded the silver medal at the 1983 and 1984 Ohio State Championship Language Competition Olympiada of Spoken Russian. Higdon was a member of one of Ohio State football's most successful recruiting classes in its history.

Cris Carter Graduel Christopher Darin Carter (born November 25, 1965) is an American former American football, football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles (1987–1989), the Minnesota Vikings (1990� ...

Chris Spielman Charles Christopher Spielman (born October 11, 1965) is a former American football player and is a special assistant to the owner and CEO for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played linebacker at Ohio State University, ...

, and

Tom Tupa Thomas Joseph Tupa Jr. (born February 6, 1966) is a former American football punter and quarterback in the National Football League. Personal life and high school career As a child, Tupa participated in the NFL's Punt, Pass, and Kick contest, ...

joined Higdon as the most heralded 1984 recruits as all four were consensus High School All-Americans and all four went on to play professional football in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

. Higdon played tight end and linebacker with the Buckeyes from the years 1984 through 1987. Spielman commented during a 2010 radio interview that Higdon was one of the most talented athletes with whom he had ever played. Despite lettering all four years and attaining All-Big Ten Status his senior season, Higdon's collegiate career was curtailed by multiple injuries during his tenure with the Buckeyes. Higdon was an honor student with a 3.85 GPA in pre-medicine, political science, and Russian studies. As a perennial All-Academic Selection and the recipient of Ohio State's Scholar-Athlete Award in 1988, Higdon abandoned his candidacy for the

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

choosing instead to leave college early to prepare for the 1988

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footb ...

and subsequent

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

. Despite tearing wrist ligaments which cut short his senior season, the

chose Higdon as the 56th pick in the

1988 NFL Draft The 1988 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1988, at the Marriot Marq ...

largely on the strength of his performances at the 1988

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. Pr ...

and the

where he ran a 4.54 second 40-yard dash time and completed 28 repetitions of 225 pounds on the bench press. Higdon's NFL career began in a most promising fashion as he led the NFL in touchdown percentage over the first three games of his rookie season in 1988. His fortunes were quickly reversed, however, when he sustained a season ending

ACL injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

while catching a pass during the third game of the season against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. During an accelerated rehabilitation regimen just three months after his initial surgery, Higdon severely damaged his ACL, MCL, and LCL ligaments while participating in a supervised workout. In an attempt to repair his knee and restart his career, Higdon underwent three additional knee operations which failed to restore his ability to compete at the professional level. His career officially ended in 1990.

Post-career

After his NFL career was concluded, Higdon became a licensed corporate, clinical, and sport

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

who currently resides in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. As a corporate psychologist for Echelon Management International, Higdon is a peak performance consultant who coaches senior level executives in several areas including performance management, team development, selection and leadership succession. As a clinical psychologist, he works with families, couples, and individuals on the vast range of challenges facing these populations. And as a sport psychologist, Higdon works with professional and collegiate athletes to enhance performance through the use of psychological skills training.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higdon, Alex 1966 births Living people American football tight ends 21st-century American psychologists Atlanta Falcons players Ohio State Buckeyes football players People from Sharonville, Ohio Players of American football from Cincinnati