The Heisman isn’t what Rashaan Salaam’s Colorado friends will remember most

Rashaan Salaam died this week at 42. Someone found his body in a Boulder, Colorado park, and it set grief about a community Salaam had first touched more than two decades prior. The San Diego native’s funeral was held Friday at the Islamic Center of Boulder.

Salaam got to the University of Colorado in 1992, when he was 17. When he was 20, he ran for 2,055 yards and 24 touchdowns for the Buffaloes, and he became the first and still only player at any Colorado institution to win a Heisman Trophy, in 1994.

Salaam’s profile grew, because that’s what happens to 2,000-yard Heisman winners. But while his star got bigger, his ego didn’t, according to three of the people who went on his Heisman ride with him. They all pointed to Salaam’s grace.

“He hated the spotlight,” said David Plati, Colorado’s longtime sports information director. “He wanted everybody around him to share in any of his glories, particularly his offensive linemen. He couldn’t stand it when he was singled out. He did everything we asked him, all of the interviews and everything like that. I know he realized the importance of winning the award, but he always felt that Heisman should be a team award, because nobody wins it without having good people around him.”

He really, really didn’t want praise.

“He always deflected,” said Keith Miller, a backfield mate of Salaam’s who arrived to Boulder with him in ‘92. “You see with each person, each teammate, they get a glimpse of it. He had a very good freshman year going into his sophomore year, through the Aloha Bowl, where he won the MVP for that, and you just saw him emerge and as confidence and everything built, but nothing ever escaped from that guy that was just like, ‘Oh, I just wanna get on the field for one play.’”

He wanted to learn about other people.

“He didn’t care who you were or where you came from,” said Jeff Hauser, a reporter who covered Salaam at Boulder and developed a lasting friendship with him. “He just wanted to get to know you and to get to know you as a person. That will always be the Rashaan Salaam I remember.”

He didn’t like to talk. He just liked to be happy.

“You just assume that somebody’s demeanor is reflective of what’s going on, and honestly, you don’t know,” Miller said. “He always was just exemplary in his ability to be humble and kind and supportive of others.”

His Heisman year was a joyous time for Colorado, four years removed from a national title share and about to finish top-five again.

“It was mesmerizing,” Plati said.

Salaam was the headliner in an 11-1 run. In the last home game of what turned out to be his last college season, he delivered what still stands as one of the cooler college football moments of he last century. In the middle of a game against Iowa State, Salaam needed eight yards to get to 2,000. He took a handoff from Kordell Stewart and got 69, and his teammates mobbed him in the end zone at Folsom Field.

“That was very surreal,” Miller said.

Bill McCartney planned to redshirt him in his freshman year, 1992. But in the season opener against Colorado State, the Buffs were short a player on special teams. Salaam heard a coach yell. The redshirt was burned.

“They yelled for somebody to get in there, and the next thing you know, the coaches saw Rashaan jumped in there and ran down the field against CSU,” Plati said. “So from the get-go he was thrown in, from game one of his freshman year.”

He had just 27 carries as a freshman. But as a sophomore, he came on and split time with junior Lamont Warren, running for 844 yards and scoring seven times. Warren would go on to a long NFL career, and he decided it was time to start it right away. Salaam likely would’ve overtaken him as the starter the next year.

To some degree, McCartney showed mercy on the opposition during Salaam’s Heisman year. What Salaam did to defenses could’ve been worse than it was.

“You’ve gotta understand, he went through games where Coach McCartney would pull him, and as a fan, it was frustrating,” Hauser said. “Because you’re like, ‘Wow, we’re up, why are you pulling him?’ He would play maybe two or three series in the third quarter and he’s getting pulled, and then sometimes, in five games, I believe, he didn’t play the fourth quarter.

“When he set the mark for CU’s rushing record, this wasn’t just he played every game. He did it in 11 games, and he did it without playing most of the time in the fourth quarter. That’s the appalling stat. If he was given that fourth-quarter time, are we talking 3,000? Are we talking 3,500? Who knows what he could have been?”

Salaam’s NFL career did not go well. The Chicago Bears took him in the first round after his Heisman year, and he had a strong rookie season. He’d say years later he partied too much and had problems with marijuana.

“My whole life, up until the Chicago Bears … everything was perfect,” he said. “You know, (high school) Parade All-American, Heisman Trophy winner. … So I was bound to go through some challenges. Going to the pros at 20 years old and not being disciplined … it showed itself.

Hauser said he’d had conversations with Salaam in which Salaam worried about not having enough structure, like he’d had at CU.

Salaam only played two full seasons, and he hung around the league for two more before fading away from the sport he loved.

“A lot of people think that he was a bust,” Hauser said. “He wasn’t. People really think that he failed, and he didn’t.”

Not just when he was winning trophies, but when he was happy.

“He’s one of those guys who just had that infectious smile, where you never saw him where he really wasn’t smiling, Plati said. “He wasn’t a really outward extravert until he got to know you. It’s hard to put into words sometimes the persona somebody carries, but he just seemed happy all the time and loved the people around him.”

He was generous, those people say.

“He was willing to give,” Hauser said. “Willing to give his time. Willing to give his thoughts. Willing to be a mentor, be someone in a room who stood out. That’s Rashaan Salaam. That’s the Rashaan Salaam who I will remember and love.”

The Heisman is a big deal. It still is a significant point of pride at Colorado. But Salaam, to hear his fullback explain it, meant infinitely more.

“I think that everyone’s perception of him is correct, when they see a guy that smiles,” Miller said. “I think anybody who saw him smile, laugh, just was happy. He worked hard, he played hard, quiet, under-spoken. It wasn’t just a Heisman Trophy that he won. He represented that in many, many aspects of his life, and it happened to be acknowledged in the arena of football.

“But he carried many trophies that aren’t awarded each year, and I think people who knew him, they all understood that.”