Craig Heyward
| No. 33, 34, 45 | |||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Fullback | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Date of birth: | September 26, 1966 | ||||||||||||||
| Place of birth: | Passaic, New Jersey | ||||||||||||||
| Date of death: | May 27, 2006 (aged 39) | ||||||||||||||
| Place of death: | Atlanta, Georgia | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 265 lb (120 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Passaic (NJ) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | Pittsburgh | ||||||||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1988 / Round: 1 / Pick: 24 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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| Player stats at PFR | |||||||||||||||
| Rushing Yards: | 4,301 |
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| Average: | 4.2 |
| Touchdowns: | 30 |
| Rec. yards: | 1,559 |
| Avg.: | 8.8 |
| Touchdowns: | 4 |
| Player stats at NFL.com | |
Craig William "Ironhead" Heyward (September 26, 1966 – May 27, 2006) was an American football fullback who played for the New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, St. Louis Rams, and Indianapolis Colts in an 11-year National Football League (NFL) career.
He was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the first round (24th pick overall) of the 1988 NFL Draft out of the University of Pittsburgh; Heyward's 3,086 career rushing yards rank third all-time at Pitt in only three seasons. He declared himself eligible for the 1988 draft after his junior year. In 1987 at Pittsburgh, Heyward rushed for 1,791 yards to earn consensus All-America honors and finish fifth in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
Heyward was widely regarded as a nightmare for opposing defenses because he was often as big, and sometimes bigger, than the defenders who had to stop him, and had surprising quickness and agility. One of the NFL's best "big man" running backs in the vein of Earl Campbell, Heyward, at 5' 11" and reportedly weighing 340 pounds, was a punishing runner who was also a devastating blocker and good receiver. Heyward slimmed down to closer to 280.
In 1997, Heyward showcased his sense of humor in a series of television commercials for Zest body wash, introducing a generation of American men to the modern version of the Luffa that is now a fixture in many showers and bathtubs. The "lather-builder" and Heyward's tough-guy image created a humorous contrast in the advertisement, culminating in a voting campaign that named it the "thingy".
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