Johnny Lee Bailey (March 17, 1967 – August 20, 2010) was an

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 wi ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Th ...

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 majo ...

(NFL). He was also a part of Houston's

Yates High School Jack Yates Senior High School is a public high school located at 3650 Alabama Street, very near Texas Southern University, in the historic Third Ward in Houston, Texas, United States. Yates High School handles grades nine through twelve and is par ...

football team when it won the 1985 5A state championship.

Career

Bailey was drafted in the ninth round out of

Texas A&I University Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

(now named

Texas A&M University–Kingsville Texas A&M University–Kingsville is a Public university, public research university in Kingsville, Texas. It is the southernmost campus of the Texas A&M University System. The university developed the nation's first doctoral degree in bilingual ...

) in the

1990 NFL Draft The 1990 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 22–23, 1990, at the Marriott Mar ...

by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

. While at Texas A&I, Bailey was the first, and so far only, player to be a three-time winner of the

Harlon Hill Trophy The Harlon Hill Trophy is an award in American college football given to the individual selected as the most valuable player in NCAA Division II. The award is named for former University of North Alabama and National Football League player Ha ...

, which is given to the best player in Division II

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 in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

. He played for the Bears for two years before going on to the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play th ...

for two years, as well as playing for the Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams. During his NFL career he played in 81 games and scored nine touchdowns.

Death

Bailey died on August 20, 2010, of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a mass. These cancerous cells have the ability to invade other parts of the body. A number of types of pancr ...

. He is buried at the Houston Memorial Gardens in

Pearland, Texas Pearland ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Brazoria County, Texas, Brazoria County, with portions extending into Fort Bend County, Texas, Fort Bend and Harris County, Texas, Harris counties. The city of Pearland is a principal city ...

References

External links

* * 1967 births 2010 deaths American football return specialists American football running backs Chicago Bears players Iowa Barnstormers players Los Angeles Rams players Phoenix Cardinals players St. Louis Rams players Texas A&M–Kingsville Javelinas football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees National Conference Pro Bowl players Players of American football from Houston African-American players of American football Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in Texas 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{Runningback-1960s-stub