Dante Love is an American former

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 ...

player. He played as a wide receiver for the

Ball State Cardinals The Ball State Cardinals are the athletic teams that represent Ball State University, located in Muncie, Indiana. The Cardinals are part of the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference. Charlie Cardinal is the team mascot. The Ball State Univers ...

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...

until he suffered a cervical spine fracture during a 2008 season game. At the time of his career-ending injury, Love was the 2008 season's national leader in receiving yards, and he ranked as Ball State's career

kick return A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

yards leader and second-leading receiver in terms of yards and number of receptions.

Early years

He was born in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

to Maxine Love on March 19, 1986. Love attended

Withrow High School Withrow High School (originally East Side High School) is a public high school located on the east side of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is part of the Cincinnati Public Schools. History The school opened in 1919 and was listed on the National Register of ...

, where he played football as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

during his last two school years. As a senior in 2004, the team posted a 10–1 record and secured the Southwest Ohio Public League championship. That season, Love threw for 2,094 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushed for 970 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was subsequently named an All-City and All-Southwest Ohio District player, Ohio North-South and Ohio East-West All-Star, and the Withrow High School most valuable player. Love was also named the City Offensive Player of the Year and ''

The Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, alth ...

'' Division III Player of the Year.Dante Love
Ball State Athletics, retrieved February 21, 2009.

College career

In 2005, Love enrolled at

Muncie, Indiana Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the county seat, seat of Delaware County, Indiana, Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs ...

and played as a true freshman wide receiver on the football team. That season, he saw action in all eleven games and recorded 19 receptions for 185 yards and three touchdowns. He also made 19 carries for 89 rushing yards.Dante Love Stats
ESPN, retrieved February 21, 2009. On special teams, Love returned 22 kick-offs for 545 yards, which included a 94-yard return for a touchdown against

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. He led the team in all-purpose yardage with 74.7 yards per game. At the end of the season, he was named co-recipient of the John Hodge Award for the team's most outstanding freshman player. In 2006, Love played in all twelve games, to include seven starts. He recorded 52 receptions for 735 yards and four touchdowns. Love also made 19 carries for 83 yards and one touchdown and returned 13 kicks for 216 yards. He ranked second on the team in terms of all-purpose yardage with 86.2 yards per game. In 2007, he saw action in all 13 games and started in 11. He recorded 100 receptions for 1,398 yards and ten touchdowns. He returned 49 kick-offs for 1,100 yards, to include a 100-yard touchdown return against

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said to resemble a mitten, and Mid Michigan corre ...

. Love broke the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

(MAC) single-season records for both all-purpose yards with 2,690 and kick-off return yards with 1,100. Going into the 2008 season, Love had recorded 2,318 receiving yards in three years to become the second leading Ball State receiver behind only

Dante Ridgeway Dante DeAndre Ridgeway (born April 18, 1984) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in sixth round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at Ball State. Ridgeway also played for the New Yor ...

. He was also the leading Ball State kick return specialist with 1,862 yards. Love had played in all 36 games during his career and made at least one reception in 35 of them. In 2008, Love played in each of the first four games. In the season opener against , he made nine receptions for 171 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 22 yards and another touchdown. Against

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

, he again had nine receptions for 165 yards and two touchdowns. He made six carries for 37 yards and one rushing touchdown. Against

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

, he caught seven reception for 97 yards.

Injury

On Saturday, September 20, for their fourth game, the Cardinals traveled to Bloomington to face the

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the Nationa ...

. At that point, Love led the nation with 144.3 receiving yards per game.A fortunate player loses his career but not his legs
''USA Today'', November 4, 2008. Love made two catches for 25 yards in the first half. With 10:45 left in the second quarter, quarterback Nate Davis threw a short 2-yard pass to the right for Love on a swing route. He made the reception and ran to the outside and along the sideline. An Indiana linebacker grabbed onto Love's shoulder pads from behind, which caused him to lower his head as he pushed forward for more yards. An Indiana cornerback, Chris Adkins, made the tackle from the front and Love fell to the ground with the ball being knocked loose. Hoosiers safety Nick Polk recovered the fumble and returned it for a touchdown. Love remained on the ground for several minutes and reported that his legs were numb. He had suffered a cervical spine fracture (broken neck). After about fifteen minutes, he was placed on a spineboard and taken to the locker room by a motorized cart. Love was then transported by ambulance to

Ball Memorial Hospital Indiana University Health Ball Memorial Hospital is an academic teaching hospital in the city of Muncie, Indiana. It is the only hospital in the city of Muncie, Indiana. It was founded by the Ball Brothers, hence the name, Ball Memorial Hospital. ...

and then by helicopter to

Methodist Hospital of Indianapolis Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital is a hospital part of Indiana University Health, located in Indianapolis, state of Indiana, United States. It is the largest hospital in the state of Indiana and one of only four regional Level I Traum ...

. Doctors showed Love x-rays of his fractured neck and informed him that he may eventually walk again, but would never be able to play football. That night, doctors performed a five-hour surgical procedure to stabilize his spine. After the surgery, Love was able to move his arms and legs.Lewis scampers for 164 and four TDs, runs Ball State to win
ESPN, September 20, 2008.After five-hour back surgery, Ball State WR Love moving arms, legs
ESPN, September 21, 2008. Ball State went on to win the game against Indiana for the school's first-ever victory over a

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

(BCS) conference school. Head coach

Brady Hoke Brady Patrick Hoke (; born November 3, 1958) is an American football coach in his second stint as the head coach at San Diego State University. He was previously the head coach at the University of Michigan from 2011 to 2014. Hoke grew up in O ...

called it the biggest win in school history during a greatly abbreviated post-game press conference. Hoke cut it short in order to visit Love in the hospital. While unable to play, Love regained the use of his limbs, and on October 25, he returned to assist the team's coaches during the 2008 season. After the season, Hoke resigned as head coach to take the same position at

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

and was replaced by offensive coordinator

Stan Parrish Stanley Paul Parrish (September 20, 1946 – April 3, 2022) was an American football coach and player. He was the head coach at Ball State University from 2009 to 2010. Parrish was previously the head coach at Wabash College, Kansas State and M ...

. Parrish said that he would hire Love as a graduate assistant for the 2009 season as he works towards his undergraduate degree.Graham Watson
Love to coach while finishing degree
ESPN, February 24, 2009.

References

External links

Updated Statement on Dante Love's Football Injury
Ball State University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Love, Dante Living people 1986 births American football wide receivers Ball State Cardinals football players Players of American football from Cincinnati