David Lambert Huffman (April 4, 1957 – November 21, 1998) was an American college and professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was an

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

in the National Football League and United States Football League (USFL) for twelve seasons during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Huffman 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 ...

for the University of Notre Dame, where he was a member of Notre Dame's 1977 national championship team and an All-American. He played professionally for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings, and the Memphis Showboats of the USFL.

Early years

Huffman was born in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, Texas, where he was a member of the high school newspaper staff.Dave Huffman
profile at databaseFootball.com

College career

He attended the University of Notre Dame, and played for coach Ara Parseghian and coach Dan Devine's

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the intercollegiate football team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, north of the city of South Bend, Indiana. The team plays its home games at the campus' Notre Dame ...

team from 1975 to 1979. 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

The Minnesota Vikings selected Huffman in the second round (forty-third pick overall) of the

1979 NFL Draft The 1979 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 May 3–4, 1979, at the Waldorf Astoria ...

, and he played for the Vikings from to with only one interruption. In 1984 and 1985, he also played for the USFL's

Arizona Wranglers The Arizona Wranglers were a professional American Football team in the United States Football League that, name-wise, existed from late 1982 to mid-1985. They played at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, a su ...

and Memphis Showboats. In his eleven NFL seasons, he played in 128 games.

Death

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 Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. He was survived by his wife, Cathy, a daughter, Jessica, and a son, Jack. 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.Dave Huffman 5K Memorial Run

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huffman, Dave 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