Leophus "Leo" Hayden, Sr. (born June 2, 1948, in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
) is a former
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 ...
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 American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...
who played from 1971 to 1973 for the
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...
and
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...
. He attended
Ohio State
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 public ...
and was the Vikings first round draft pick in the
1971 NFL Draft
The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...
.
As a rookie with the Vikings in 1971 Hayden played almost exclusively on
special teams
In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...
and did not have a single rushing attempt.
Hayden later acknowledged that his play was impacted by drug use, and he was cut by the Vikings after one season.
[ Hayden later said "I knew there were still people on the team I was better than, but I look back on those years of addiction that, because you’re a junkie, there’s no more vile person in the world than a junkie. The reason they call it dope is because it turns you into one.”][ He signed with the Cardinals, and spent the 1972 and 1973 seasons with them, but his drug use got worse and he played little and was released after the 1973 season.][ Hayden signed with the Chicago Fire of the ]World Football League
The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest t ...
in March 1974. But during the Fire's training camp in June he was arrested on a bad check warrant.[
]
References
Database Football
1948 births
Living people
Players of American football from Louisville, Kentucky
American football running backs
Ohio State Buckeyes football players
Minnesota Vikings players
St. Louis Cardinals (football) players
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