Rueben A. Mayes (born June 6, 1963) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

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 professionally 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) from 1986 to 1993. He is a member of the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

for his contributions while playing for the

Washington State Cougars The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic program co ...

Early life and high school

Mayes is a direct descendant of a group of

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

who fled racial persecution in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

in 1910 and traveled north to

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, Canada, after reading flyers which promised of free land to anyone willing to move there. This group of pioneers were known as the " Shiloh People", named after the "Shiloh Baptist Church", a small log cabin church they built after they arrived. He first gained acclaim as a

North Battleford Comprehensive High School North Battleford Comprehensive High School (NBCHS) is one of three high schools in the city of North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. NBCHS has a student body of around 1300 students, and a faculty of approximately 60 teachers. History Constructi ...

North Battleford North Battleford is a city in west-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the seventh largest city in the province and is directly across the North Saskatchewan River from the Town of Battleford. Together, the two communities are known as "The Batt ...

, Saskatchewan. In 1980, Mayes led the NBCHS Vikings to an undefeated season and the SHSAA 3A provincial football championship. In 1981, he set a provincial record in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

at the SHSAA provincial track and field championship that still stands. His sister is

Lesa Mayes-Stringer Lesa Mayes-Stringer (born 13th of May, 1968 in North Battleford, Saskatchewan) is a former bobsled athlete who competed for Canada from 1999 to 2007. Lesa Mayes-Stringer married Christopher Stringer in Richmond, British Columbia in 1994. Togeth ...

, a former bobsled athlete who competed for Canada from 1999 to 2007.

College career

Mayes 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 ...

at the

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

in Pullman, where he was recognized as a consensus All-American and finished tenth in the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

voting Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

. Mayes set single-season and career-rushing school records (1,632; 3,519 yards) with the Cougars, and established an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

record for most rushing yards in one game (357 at

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

). It was the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

record for over a quarter century, until broken by

Ka'Deem Carey Ka'Deem Carey (born October 30, 1992) is an American football running back for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college foot ...

in 2012. In 1995, a panel of experts commissioned by ''

The Spokesman-Review ''The Spokesman-Review'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Spokane, Washington, the city's sole remaining daily publication. It has the third-highest readership among daily newspapers in the state, with most of its readership base in ...

'' named Mayes to the all-time WSU team. The honor was repeated in 1998 by Cougfan.com when it picked its list of the school's all-time greatest players. On May 1, 2008 he was elected to the

. In August 2017, a group of panelists commissioned by the Pac-12 Network picked the 12 greatest Washington State players of all time and Mayes ranked No. 1.

Professional career

Mayes was selected in the third round (57th overall) of the

1986 NFL Draft The 1986 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 29–30, 1986, at the Marriott Marq ...

by the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. He was also selection second overall in the 1986 CFL Draft by the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

, but never played in the CFL. He won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award that year from the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

, and although his NFL career was hampered by injuries, he was named to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

twice. After five seasons with the Saints, Mayes was traded to the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

in April

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, where he played the final two years of his career.

NFL career statistics

Later life

After football, Mayes became active in efforts to better educate at-risk youth. He later earned a masters of business administration degree and returned to WSU as an administrator. Beginning his 10th as the Chief Development and External Relations Officer at Pullman Regional Hospital. His wife of 34 years, Marie Mayes, serves as the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the WSU Carson College of Business. Their oldest son Logan was a three-star recruited linebacker at

Marist Catholic High School Marist Catholic High School is a private Roman Catholic, college preparatory school in Eugene, Oregon, United States founded by the Marist Brothers. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland. Its motto is "We are One". Academics In ...

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

, and committed to play at Washington State, following his father's footsteps. He went on to graduate with a finance degree at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). Logan is now a financial analyst for SRM Development Company. After graduating with an International Business degree from the WSU Carson College of Business, Kellen Mayes (younger son) completed a two-year Peace Corps project in rural Albania. He is a first year medical student at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Mayes is the most successful Canadian born skilled player to play in the NFL and one of the only six Saskatchewan natives to make it to the NFL, the others were

Arnie Weinmeister Arnold George Weinmeister (March 23, 1923 – June 28, 2000) was a Canadian professional football player who was a defensive tackle. He went to four Pro Bowls, but with only a six-year tenure in the All-America Football Conference and Natio ...

Jon Ryan Jonathan Robert Ryan (born November 26, 1981) is a retired Canadian professional football punter. He played college football for the University of Regina Rams, and began his professional career with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (CFL) after being ...

Ben Heenan Ben Heenan (born February 5, 1990) is a Canadian born former American football guard who played for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL) in 2015. He also played with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of Canadian Football League ...

Brett Boyko Brett Boyko (born August 4, 1992) is a professional Canadian football offensive lineman who is a free agent. He most recently played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He has also been a member of the Philade ...

and Brett Jones. Mayes was the subject of a 1989 documentary film, ''The Saint from North Battleford'', directed by

Selwyn Jacob Selwyn Jacob is a Canadian documentary filmmaker whose work has often explored the experiences of Black Canadians as well as other stories from Canada's multicultural communities, as both as an independent director and since 1997 as a producer w ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayes, Rueben 1963 births Living people American football running backs Canadian expatriate American football people in the United States Canadian players of American football New Orleans Saints players Seattle Seahawks players Washington State Cougars football players All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Ed Block Courage Award recipients National Conference Pro Bowl players National Football League Offensive Rookie of the Year Award winners Sportspeople from North Battleford Gridiron football people from Saskatchewan Black Canadian players of American football