Plati-'Tudes: The Heisman Weekend With Rashaan

(Pictured: Doak Walker, Rashaan Salaam, David Plati)

I hate December 5.

I've had tough days in my 39 years in this business. Not ones where we were trying to meet some kind of deadline for a release or a media guide, or where phone messages (20th century) or Emails (21st) were overwhelming. No, the toughest always have involved injuries to (Ed Reinhardt, Don DeLuzio, Curt Koch) or deaths of current athletes (Derek Singleton, Sal Aunese, Laura Flood, Tiger Bussey, Lucie Hanusova, Spencer Nelson, Kyle MacIntosh).

December 5, 2005, is when we lost our longtime golf coach and one of my best friends, Mark Simpson, to complications from lung cancer. And two days ago, December 5, 2016, we lost Rashaan Salaam, one of the greatest athletes to ever wear a CU uniform in any sport. The football player I was likely closest to out of around 1,000 who have come and gone since I first walked into the sports information office door on August 30, 1978.

Rashaan Salaam. Our only Heisman Trophy winner. The state's only Heisman winner. One of just two, out of 82, from the oft-forgotten time zone named the Mountain. Friend. The player who was predicted to win the Heisman by the late Fred Casotti (our former SID/Associate AD) – after he watched his third practice as a freshman – "This kid's gonna win the Heisman," I can still hear Fred say. They weren't even in pads yet. How did he know? He never said it about anyone else.

He had a magical 1994 season, leading the nation in rushing with 2,055 yards (just the fourth player at the time to do it, and anyone since has done it in 12 or more games, not the 11 he did). He also led the country in all-purpose yards and in scoring (24 touchdowns). He was a unanimous All-American (and obviously unanimous All-Big Eight), and also won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's best running back in addition to being named the Walter Camp Player of the Year. He led CU to an 11-1 record and a No. 3 final ranking in the country.

This Saturday (Dec. 10) will mark to the day the 22nd anniversary of Rashaan's name being called at the end of the one hour Heisman Trophy show on ESPN. Our own Chris Fowler was emceeing his first of every one to come since. Coach Bill McCartney had a front row seat with Rashaan's relatives; assistant coach Ben Gregory (who we lost in 1997) and I were relegated to the back row.

Those 60 minutes dragged on like 600 minutes. We were situated near the back corner, close to the ESPN indoor "compound." Had I thought to look, I would have seen the chyron operator frantically entering the graphics that showed Rashaan had won. But I'm glad I didn't; Ben and I were holding hands, looking upward, and we both turned into Olympic high jumpers when Rashaan was announced as the winner, even though the Heisman Trust rep couldn't pronounce his last name.

Back in Colorado, the coaches were hosting a massive football recruiting dinner in the Dal Ward Center. The current team was also there, and there were several televisions in the room tuned into the Heisman show. The offensive linemen all lit up cigars when Rashaan won. Days later, upon our return from New York, many of those same linemen and about 15 teammates in all got permission to run down the jet way to greet Rashaan after the flight attendants opened the door. In the midst of finals week, we all went to Zang's (defunct Denver sports bar) for their famous wings and … refreshments.

By that time, I had developed a special bond with Rashaan, one that an S.I.D. develops with any athlete he or she accompanies to New York for the Heisman; I am confident most if not all of my peers will agree (the athletes bond as well; Rashaan and Warren Sapp created a life-long friendship after meeting there). I first escorted Darian Hagan back in 1989; we were both fairly wide-eyed, even though I was on my home turf being a native New Yorker. I can still hear the last thing Coach Mac said to me: "Do not let my undefeated sophomore quarterback out of your sight all weekend."

Most of the players went to a night club accompanied Johnny Rodgers (who we thought represented the Heisman committee but didn't; he rented a limo, which actually broke down). He somehow had access to the novelty store and told the players to take whatever they wanted; turned out, that was a lie. He was trying to woo the players to be their agent; they took upwards of eight things each (shirts, shorts, hats, etc.), but Darian was the only one who returned most of the items -- the Heisman folks said he could keep two so that there weren't any NCAA issues. (See Mac, I didn't let him out of my sight!).

The following year, I took Eric Bieniemy to the Big Apple; he had lost the rushing title by 14 yards that year to Oklahoma State's Gerald Hudson (1,642-to-1,628) because our finale kicked off at Noon and OSU's some 90 minutes later. Much like the final day of the 1977-78 NBA season where David Thompson scored 73 points in a day game and George Gervin came back with 63 at night to edge DT for the scoring title, OSU knew exactly what was needed to get Hudson the rushing crown. Mac didn't ask me to keep EB within my sights all weekend, and I didn't; he and the "Rocket" (Notre Dame's Raghib Ismail) had at least one interesting evening that I'll leave at that.

Hagan had finished fifth, and Bieniemy third. Math was on Rashaan's side (5-3-1, get it?).

The itinerary for the weekend for the participants is daunting; not a lot of free time. And for the eventual winner, three days of events followed. And if we weren't headed somewhere, we were at the Downtown Athletic Club where Rashaan had to sign an inordinate amount of posters, hats and footballs. His right hand was a claw by the end of each day.

I snuck home to Westchester to visit my parents for about 6 hours on Sunday; Rashaan basically napped after breakfast (interviews and the ensuing celebration lasted well into the wee hours). He said goodbye to Steve McNair, telling he'd see him at the combine; my eyes grew wide as he wasn't going to announce if he was staying in college or turning pro until after the Fiesta Bowl. He quickly realized what he had said, swore me to secrecy, and we were lucky a reporter from one of our own local papers who heard it didn't put two and two together.

There was a dinner on Sunday night, another one with just former Heisman winners on Monday, and the big one on Tuesday, with 2,500-plus in attendance at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square (which followed a meet-and-greet with Mayor Guiliani).

I was so proud of Rashaan at the big dinner, as he addressed the large crowd like a true veteran; but three months earlier, he had hated doing interviews, especially on camera or radio. He didn't feel comfortable and declined an ESPN request after he scored four touchdowns in a 55-17 win over Wisconsin. Next up, the "Miracle in Michigan." We all know what happened, and ESPN came back to Boulder to do an in-depth recap and breakdown of everything that happened on the play.

Rashaan had rushed for 141 yards – the most by any opponent player in 21 seasons in the "Big House" – but it was his help on a blindside rusher that helped buy some more time for Kordell Stewart to throw the ball downfield. ESPN wanted him again and I forced him to do it. From that point on, I later confessed to him that I made him do every interview that came down the pike ("It's a Heisman voter" … "This guy votes All-Big Eight" … etc., even though that was rarely true). I wanted him to get more experience, more comfortable in front of a microphone. Practice makes perfect, and he shined during his acceptance speech.

(And Yogi Berra for some reason was there sitting on the dais. Rashaan snapped our picture.)

But it was Monday where what I like to call the "Heisman 8" truly bonded. Rashaan, Chris Fowler, Mike Rozier, Jamie Crimmins (Heisman staff), myself and three others I can't recall for the life of me. After the former winner's dinner, we all went to the Blarney Stone near the former World Trade Center and without going into detail, just had a grand ol' time. Some of it involved a turkey leg the eight of us shared. Now if that's not bonding, I don't know what is.

We stayed in touch through the years. I often kidded him that at times he would "go dark," not communicating with anyone for months at a time. When he moved permanently to Colorado late last decade (about a mile from me in Superior), we must have bumped into each other at the Safeway gas station 20 times. He enjoyed coming back to CU and attending games and doing anything we asked of him.

Most of us did not have an inkling about his troubles. We occasionally talked about how some pundits viewed him as a failure because he didn't have a great professional career. It bothered him, but I always told him those people didn't do an ounce of homework. Heck, he is one of very few players that have won the NFC Rookie of the Year (the award hadn't even been around 30 years when he earned it for the 1995 season).

Rashaan had the single greatest individual season in our history; but he hated the attention, didn't care for the spotlight and was uncomfortable receiving the lion's share of the credit. He truly felt a little guilty because he thought the Heisman should be a team award.

He would have preferred to be back in Boulder, hearing it on TV and lighting a cigar with the teammates he truly loved.

All, we have lost a true Colorado Buffalo, one who impacted many of us on a variety of levels. And I for one will be affected by this for a long, long time.

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