Greg Morrissey interned with the Chicago Bears in the summer of 1995 when the NFL team’s first-round draft pick approached him on the practice field. Rashaan Salaam was a 20-year-old rookie with a big smile in need of his wisdom teeth pulled. And Morrissey? Well, he had a car.
“Do you mind taking me to the dentist?” Salaam asked. “I need someone to drive me back. I just got here and don’t know anyone.”
More than two decades later, Salaam’s humble nature still makes Morrissey chuckle — “What Heisman Trophy winner does that?” — but not without profound sadness.
That ride gave start to an enduring friendship. Morrissey grew close to Salaam’s mother and brother while on visits to their home in San Diego, and when Morrissey’s sister died, Salaam attended her wake. As recently as October 2016, they sat together in Denver with mutual friends to watch the World Series on television. It would be the last time Morrissey saw the man he called “one of my dearest, best friends.” Salaam took his own life two months later in a Boulder park.
“We were just talking like friends,” Morrissey said. “I had no idea, no clue what was going on.”
The University of Colorado will retire Salaam’s No. 19 black-and-gold jersey with a ceremony between the first and second quarter of Saturday’s game against California at Folsom Field. When CU announced the plan in August, Morrissey contacted former Bears teammates of Salaam’s to organize a trip to Boulder in his honor. Morrissey will be joined in the stands by former Bears defensive end John Thierry (1994-98), defensive tackle Carl Simpson (1993-97) and fullback Tony Carter (1994-97).
“He’d do it for me, so I’m there for him, 100 percent,” Morrissey said.
Itap a somber reminder that Salaam’s impact far outreached the confines of Colorado. Drafted No. 21 overall in 1995, he became an instant locker room favorite in Chicago. Salaam rushed for at least 100 yards in five games that season. He finished with 1,074 yards and 10 touchdowns, earning NFL rookie of the year honors.
“It was the same thing that backs are doing today that everybody is ooh-ing and awe-ing about it,” Thierry said. “Well, he’s doing it back then — and he was (6-foot-1 and 225 pounds). He was such a physical presence and he was outrunning people.”
Even then, Salaam’s early accolades didn’t change his personal outlook.
“He was a real good guy,” Simpson said, “real laid back like me.”
But Salaam would miss four games the next year with knee and hamstring injuries, and three games into his 1997 season, Salaam broke his leg in a loss at New England. Teammates say he was never quite the same again on the football field, and the mental toll was equally significant.
“It really bothered him when he got hurt, and he was in his prime,” Thierry said. “But thatap the side of the game that doesn’t get seen, the injuries that guys go through and the emotion. You’ve been doing this pretty much your whole life and it can get cut short.”
Several of Salaam’s former Chicago teammates stayed in touch through the years that followed as Salaam made football stops in Cleveland, Green Bay, the XFL and CFL. And it continued when Salaam once again called Boulder home. One night each year for the past five or six, Morrissey had invited Salaam to a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre with backstage passes.
The demons Salaam wrestled with in the months leading up to his suicide, though, never were mentioned among his fraternity of former Bears. Not even with Morrissey, who said he texted or spoke with Salaam at least three times a week. Small talk, mostly. Cracking jokes. Like friends do.
“I just keep envisioning him by himself that evening, and it just tears me up,” Thierry said. “Especially someone you’ve been around. There are a lot of bad people in this world. He’s not one of them.
“I just wish I could have done a little more … maybe I could have seen him a little more.”
Honoring Salaam’s legacy Saturday will help heal those wounds. Morrissey, Thierry, Simpson and Carter have done their best to prepare for a wide range of emotions. Sadness. Anger. Regret. But paying respect to Salaam and his family on homecoming weekend was something they wouldn’t miss.
And Morrissey remains thankful that he was picked to help a Heisman Trophy winner with a toothache.
“Every day I think about him,” Morrissey said. “That was my best friend.”
Remembering Rashaan
Those who knew former Colorado Buffaloes star Rashaan Salaam reflect on his legacy
Larry Zimmer, longtime former radio voice of CU football who called all of Salaam’s games: “One of the highlights of my broadcast career was describing the run that broke the 2,000-yard mark. We knew, barring injury, going into that final game of the year against Iowa State that he would get there. But we were hoping it wouldn’t be a two yard run up the middle. He took care of that with a 67 yard run down the east sideline at Folsom for a touchdown. We had just witnessed CU history and the winning of the Heisman Trophy. At the time, the other three previous players to break 2,000 yards — Marcus Allen, Mike Rozier and Barry Sanders — all had won the Heisman. I was concerned because Rashaan’s competition was from Ki-Jana Carter at Penn State, and there are more voters in the East than in the West. But by going over 2,000, I felt Rashaan won it. And he did.”
Mike MacIntyre, current CU football coach: “It means a great deal to the program (to retire Salaam’s jersey number). Getting to know Rashaan a little bit over the last couple years when he was here, it was good. I just remember his smile. He always had a great smile on his face. He was always really pleasant to talk to. But all the guys that played with him, all the people that were around, all the fans that watched him play at that time, I know it will mean a tremendous amount to them.”
Vance Joseph, coach of Denver Broncos, who played football at CU from 1990-95: “Rashaan was my roommate my senior year, so we were very close. Rashaan was a sweet person. If you knew Rashaan, he was a great person, first of all. Obviously, a great football player.”
Brian Cabral, former CU assistant coach who recruited Salaam out of high school to Boulder: “Rashaan wore the No. 19. I coached the last player who wore 19 before Rashaan did. I told Rashaan if he was going to wear that number that he had to be as tough as the one who wore it before him. Linebacker Greg Biekert wore the number before him and was the starting middle linebacker for the Oakland Raiders for nine years. Rashaan just made the jersey No. 19 tougher.”
Phillip Lindsay, current CU running back: “He was physical, fast, he could make you miss. He had the whole package. You don’t get a lot of players like that. The man went out there and had 2,000 yards rushing. … It’s going to be an honor to watch his jersey retired.”