| Date of birth: | July 17, 1979 |
| Place of birth: | Chicago, Illinois |
| Career information | |
|---|---|
| Status: | Retired |
| CFL status: | Import |
| Position(s): | RB |
| Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Weight: | 218 lb (99 kg) |
| College: | Northwestern |
| NFL Draft: | 2002 / Undrafted |
| Organizations | |
| As player: | |
| 2002–2005 2007–2008 |
Arizona Cardinals Edmonton Eskimos |
| Career stats | |
| Rushing Att | 60 |
| Rushing Yards | 262 |
| Rushing TDs | 0 *CFL statistics only |
Damien Ramone Anderson (born July 17, 1979) is a professional American football and Canadian football running back who retired in 2008. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Arizona Cardinals in 2002. He played college football at Northwestern Wildcats.
Anderson was a standout at Northwestern University, finishing second in the nation in total rushing yards in 2000 behind LaDainian Tomlinson while also finishing 5th for the Heisman Trophy.
Concluding his illustrious career as Northwestern's all-time leading rusher, Damien Anderson capped a record-setting season in 2000 by becoming just the fourth player in Big Ten history to run for 2,000 or more yards in a single season. He closed his four-year career with 4,485 rushing yards (the eighth-best figure in Big Ten history), 38 rushing touchdowns and 5,261 all-purpose yards—all school records.
In 2000, when he posted the 20th-best single-season rushing average in NCAA history (174.0 ypg for 11 regular-season games), Anderson finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting and he was tabbed a Doak Walker Award (nation's top running back) finalist. He was named to All-America teams by the Football Writers Association of America, Walter Camp, Football News, CNN/SI.com and Sporting News. Anderson also rushed for 1,549 yards in eight Big Ten games in 2000, which remains a conference single-season record. His running exploits in 2000 helped the Wildcats capture a share of the Big Ten title, their third conference crown in a six-year period.
In addition to his major career school marks for rushing, all-purpose yardage, rushing TD's and 200-yard rushing games (four), Anderson still holds five major single-season marks, all set in 2000: rushing yards (2,063), yards per game (171.9), all-purpose yards (2,195), rushing touchdowns (23) and points (138). He also scored at least one touchdown in 11 consecutive games, an NU record. Anderson, who played in 43 career games, started 32 consecutive times during his career and 40 overall.
Anderson played four years with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals as well as two years with the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos.
IN 2004 he made an amazing recovery from injuries sustained in a car accident. Anderson spent 14 days in an intensive care unit and nearly three weeks in the hospital after undergoing surgery to remove his spleen and repair a fractured eye socket. He also suffered liver damage, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung in the rollover accident. Anderson was fully recovered in time for the Cardinals' June minicamp.
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