http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AmNGSuaJPyupY8YPZSAPaU9DubYF?slug=ap-obit-heyward&prov=ap&type=lgns

ATLANTA (AP) -- Former NFL fullback Craig "Ironhead" Heyward died Saturday after a 7 1/2 -year fight with a recurring brain tumor, his son's high school football coach said. He was 39.

Heyward spent 11 seasons in the NFL with New Orleans, Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis and Indianapolis. The former University of Pittsburgh All-American rushed for a career-high 1,083 yards for the Falcons in 1995.

"I got a call at 4:30 or 5 that he had passed away," said Blair Armstrong, who coached Heyward's son, Cameron, at Peachtree Ridge High School. "He was in a hospice when he died, but I don't know which one."

Armstrong said he often talked to Heyward when he came to see his son play.

"He wasn't real mobile, but he'd been rehabbing. He thought he might walk again. But once he lost his hearing and his sight, his organs started shutting down. Other problems were just developing."

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Born in Passaic, N.J., in 1966, the 5-foot-11 fullback ran for 4,301 yards in his NFL career and had 1,559 yards receiving.

Heyward was one of the biggest running backs in NCAA Division I-A history, with a weight estimated at 260 to 285 pounds, but finished third in Pitt career rushing with 3,086 yards. He trailed only Tony Dorsett (6,526 yards) and Curvin Richards' 3,192 yards. Heyward's 1,791 yards in 1987, counting a bowl game, rank second only to Dorsett's 2,150 yards in 1976 for a Pitt single season.

Heyward was a first-team AP All-America pick that season, but chose to pass up his senior season and was a first-round draft pick by New Orleans.

"Craig Heyward truly ranks among the all-time greats in Pitt football history," Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt said in a statement released with the school.

"I will always remember him as a tremendous player who had an irrepressible attitude on and off the field. The thoughts and prayers of the entire Pitt family are with Craig's loved ones during this time of sorrow."

Heyward's son, the 6-7, 280-pound Cameron, visited Pitt on a recruiting trip last month and is considered one of the nation's top defensive line recruits.



What a sad story. I remember how excited I was when he came to the Bears. He was just one of those players I remember always cheering for when i was a kid, no matter what team he was on.

rip

brain tumors suck. my favorite uncle had one, had surgery, and was never able to function on his own again. he died like 3 yrs after.

Bummer. Ironhead was cool, and he had one of the best football names ever.

That article is chalked full of former cowboys greats...... Dorsett, Curvin Richards , Dave Wannstedt.....

R.I.P. Ironhead
I loved watching you play

R.I.P. Ironhead

I loved Ironhead Heyward. Rest in Piece big guy.

we barely knew ye.

That sucks. I barely remember anything of him as a player, but as soon as I read the name, I had a bunch of warm memories of him as a person from interviews. I seem to remember him being really good, and genuine, and happy to be a pro football player, which is something that too few players exhibit.

Ironic way to die though...

rest in peace,...

Interesting story I have involving Ironhead, I have been telling it a lot since his death. When I was a freshman at Edinboro, I went down to visit some buddies at Pitt. It was spring in the late 80s in Oakland...there were parties on every balcony, lots of fun, but also lots of aggressive, drunken morons poised to either get into a fight or do something even worse than that. Anyway....my buddy and I and some of his friends were b.s.ing at this huge party that weekend (basically every back porch in this neighborhood had a keg and it all became one big party) when all of a sudden a few drunken idiots started to push and yell at my friend's buddies for something that happened earlier. He and I stepped in and tried at first to be peacemakers, but out of the blue some lunatic wearing a Circle Jerks t-shirt came flying across and cracked my friend across the nose with a broken beer bottle. His nose exploded, he still has a pretty nasty little scar from it....I went to help him, but some of 'Circle Jerk's' buddies came after the rest of us with beer bottles....a few guys who had seen the whole thing started to step in, but these guys were seriously messed up and in a rage and were not giving up the idea of killing those guys with beer bottles. I remember being bent over, cleaning Bob's nose up with a tshirt watching all of this surreal stuff play out in front of me. This fight was starting to spread when out of the blue, literally like the calvary, was Heyward and a few of his friends to break things up, which as you might guess, they were able to do fairly easily. My memory of all that is pretty hazy.....the next thing I really remember clearly was being in the emergency room in Oakland watching Bob get his nose stitched. I remember looking up from Bob and the doctor and...(still kinda drunk, but sobering up rapidly)...walking towards up was Heyward and his girlfriend at the time. He came over, introduced himself and his girl to me, said hello to Bob and said he just wanted to check if Bob was ok. He apparently knew and remembered him from IM hoops (the 'guy who never misses' is what he called him) and wanted to make sure we were ok. The thing that makes this story interesting and Heyward himself stand out was that in the late 80s the great athletes at Pitt were an absolute menace to ordinary dudes out on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night. If you ran into Jerome Lane you could very well be in trouble....the 'old school' steroids the lineman were using made them animals when they were out drinking, and I remember hearing about how Sal Ginella and Jerry Olsalvsky were absolute thugs when they were drunk. I just remember that all those guys I knew at Pitt always talked about what a bunch of assholes the athletes were at that time, I personally saw some of that stuff in subsequent visits to Pitt in my college career. But you know what....NOT CRAIG HEYWARD, he was obviously the exception. He was an exceptional guy, (I know I might be biased) really fun to watch play (you can imagine he was my favorite player after that, he played the next year at Pitt then went on!!) and had a nice NFL career. RIP Ironhead, thanks for the memories, thanks for maybe saving my ass and for making my night that night with a quick visit to a friend!

That's an awesome story, thanks.