Damien Nash

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Damien Nash
Date of birth	April 14, 1982
Place of birth	St. Louis, Missouri
Date of death	February 24, 2007 (age 24)
Place of death	St. Louis, Missouri
Position(s)	Running back
College	Missouri
NFL Draft	2005 / Round 6 / Pick 142
Statistics	Pro Football Reference CBS.com DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
2005 2006	Tennessee Titans Denver Broncos

Damien Darnell Nash (April 14, 1982 – February 24, 2007) was an American football player who was a running back for the NFL's Denver Broncos during the 2006-2007 season at the time of his death.

Contents 1 High school years 2 College career 3 Professional career 4 Death

[edit] High school years

Nash attended St. Louis Riverview Gardens High School for the first three years of his education. He followed his coach, Darren Sunkett, to East Saint Louis High School for his senior year. He finished his career with 5,395 rushing yards and 85 rushing touchdowns as well as 1,160 passing yards and 10 passing touchdowns.

He was a track star in high school and ran the 100 meter dash in 10.3 seconds.

[edit] College career

Damien was recruited for football by the University of Wisconsin, but attended Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, Kansas before transferring to the University of Missouri. He finished his college career with 253 rushing attempts for 1,254 yards (5.0 yards per rushing attempt average) with 12 rushing touchdowns as well as 36 receptions for 282 yards (7.8 yards per reception average) with 2 receiving touchdowns.

[edit] Professional career

Nash was drafted with the 5th pick of the 6th round of the NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans. He was released after his first season with the Titans and was signed by the Denver Broncos. After spending the first portion of the season on the Broncos practice squad, he was given a roster position as the third-string running back behind Tatum Bell and Mike Bell.

Nash appeared in six NFL games, three with the Titans and three with the Broncos. He had 24 rushing attempts for 98 yards (4.1 yards per rushing attempt average) with no rushing touchdowns as well as 7 receptions for 55 yards (7.9 yards per reception average) with no receiving touchdowns.

His greatest performance came during the November 19, 2006 NFL game against the San Diego Chargers, with ten carries for fifty-two yards and three receptions for thirty-six yards. [1]

He did not appear in the Broncos' final five games of the 2006 season. However, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said about Nash "We never had a guy play for one year, as Damien did, and influence so many people."^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Death

Nash collapsed suddenly following a charity basketball game at Riverview Gardens High School on February 23, 2007. Nash was found unresponsive at a residence in suburban St. Louis and was later pronounced dead.[2] The charity event was a fundraiser to benefit the Darris Nash Find A Heart Foundation, a charity which raises funds for heart transplant research. Damien had created the charity in honor of his older brother, Darris, a recent heart transplant recipient.

The National Football League team said in a statement that they had been informed of Nash's death. Nash is the second Broncos player to die this year; defensive back Darrent Williams was shot to death while riding in a limousine after leaving a Denver nightclub early in the morning of January 1, 2007.

Sergeant Ed Douglas of the Ferguson, Missouri, police department said in a telephone interview that Nash was transported by ambulance to Christian Hospital Northeast. Douglas said the case was still under investigation. Nash was pronounced dead at 6:41 p.m. local time, hospital nursing supervisor Eileen Zwilling said in a telephone interview. She said no other information was available.