Sanders, Barry D.
Football
b. July 16, 1968, Wichita, KS
As a junior at Oklahoma State, Sanders won the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, and the Walter Camp Award as the outstanding college player of the year as a junior in 1988. The 5-foot-8, 203-pound running back combined speed, strength, and incredible cutting ability to gain a record 2,628 rushing yards. He also set NCAA records with 37 rushing touchdowns and 3,249 all-purpose yards.
Sanders gained 222 yards on 29 carries and scored 5 touchdowns in Oklahoma State's 62-14 victory over Wyoming in the Holiday Bowl. That was his last college game, as he elected to enter the NFL college draft after his brilliant junior season.
The Detroit Lions made him the third overall pick in the draft and he was the NFL's rookie of the year in 1989, when he gained 1,470 yards on 280 carries, a 5.3 average, and scored 14 touchdowns.
Sanders played with the Lions for 10 seasons and gained more than 1,000 yards each year. In 1997, he became the third player in NFL history to gain more than 2,000 yards in a season, after O. J. Simpson and Eric Dickerson. That season, he rushed for 100 or more yards in a record 14 consecutive games. He also holds league records for most touchdown runs of more than 50 yards, 15, and most games with more than 150 yards rushing, 25.
He's the only player to have rushed for more than 1,500 yards in five different seasons, and the only one to do it four straight years.
As the 1999 season approached, Sanders needed just 1,458 yards to pass Walter Payton as the NFL's al-time career rusher. But he suddenly announced his retirement, even though he'd signed a six-year contract in 1997. The Lions asked that he return $7.3 million of the $11 million bonus he'd received. Sanders responded that he would repay the money if the Lions would trade him or release him.
The issue finally ended up in court, and Sanders was ordered to return $5.5 million, plus interest, over a three-year period.
There were periodic rumors that Sanders was going to return to the NFL, with the Lions or another team, but it never happened. After more than four years of silence, Sanders held a press conference in December of 2003 and told reporters that he had never considered coming out retirement.