| No. 56, 72 | |||||||||
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| Position: | Center | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | (1957-04-04)April 4, 1957 Canton, Ohio, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died: | November 21, 1998(1998-11-21) (aged 41) Chanhassen, Minnesota, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 280 lb (127 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Thomas Jefferson(Dallas, Texas) | ||||||||
| College: | Notre Dame | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1979: 2nd round, 43rd pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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David Lambert Huffman (April 4, 1957 – November 21, 1998) was an American professionalfootball player who was anoffensive lineman for 12 seasons in theNational Football League (NFL) andUnited States Football League (USFL) during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Huffman playedcollege football for theNotre Dame Fighting Irish, winning a national championship with the team in 1977 and earning consensusAll-American honors in 1978. He played professionally for the NFL'sMinnesota Vikings and theMemphis Showboats of the USFL.
Huffman was born inCanton, Ohio. He graduated fromThomas Jefferson High School inDallas, Texas, where he was a member of the high school newspaper staff.[1]
He attended the University of Notre Dame, and played for coachAra Parseghian and coachDan Devine'sNotre Dame Fighting Irish football team from 1975 to 1979.[1] As a junior, Huffman was a member of the Irish's1977 national championship squad. As a senior in 1977, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American. His brothers,Tim and Steve, also played for Notre Dame. He was noted for his good humor, which included saying that during games he always wore red-colored elbow pads so that his mother could see where he was in the pile-ups.
The Minnesota Vikings selected Huffman in the second round (forty-third pick overall) of the1979 NFL draft, and he played for the Vikings from1979 to1990 with only one interruption. In 1984 and 1985, he also played for the USFL'sArizona Wranglers andMemphis Showboats. In his eleven NFL seasons, he played in 128 games.
Huffman died in a car accident November 21, 1998, while on his way to the final Notre Dame home game of the season vs.LSU. He was survived by his wife, Cathy, a daughter, Jessica, and a son, Jack.[citation needed] Each year, the city of Chanhassen, Minnesota, where Huffman served as a Park & Recreation Commissioner after his playing days, hosts a Dave Huffman Memorial 5,000-meter run.[2]