Keeler: CU Buffs legend Rashaan Salaam “would love” seeing Travis Hunter win Heisman Trophy, Salaam’s mother says

Rashaan Salaam would want the company.

“He would love that,” Khalada Salaam-Alaji, mother of the late CU Buffs icon told me Tuesday when I asked about Travis Hunter and the 2024 Heisman Trophy. “He would love that.

“These young men, who weren’t even born when he was playing football — he’s old enough to be their father. He would love to be a part of that. I know Rashaan would really love this. I hope it happens. It’s amazing.”

Some 2,700 miles and a coast away from Manhattan, Salaam-Alaji on Saturday will be rooting in San Diego for Hunter to become CU’s second member of the Heisman fraternity. Because nobody would be pulling harder for #HE12MAN, the Buffs’ two-way star, than her late son.

“He’s in Colorado,” Khalada said of Salaam, the ex-CU tailback whose Heisman victory (Dec. 10, 1994) celebrated its 30th anniversary on Tuesday. “His remains are in Boulder. His spirit’s there. He would really want something good to happen in Boulder.”

Khalada continues to honor her son’s legacy, and his memory, as a driver for good. She represented Rashaan when he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2022 and into the California High School Hall of Fame at the Rose Bowl last year.

These days, Salaam-Alaji is the wind beneath the wings of The Rashaan Salaam Foundation, a non-profit committed to “help children, adolescents, young adults, and athletes navigate through our complex and mentally challenging society.” The foundation held a fundraiser in Atlanta earlier this month in honor of Rashaan’s 50th birthday (Oct. 4).

“What we’re hoping is we can use all the wonderful recognition in his memory that we’ve received since he’s been gone, and do something with it,” Khalada said. “And we want the foundation to be generational. We want it to be here long after I’m gone.”

Salaam took his own life in Boulder on Dec. 5, 2016. He was 42.

“It’s so difficult this week,” Salaam-Alaji said. “It’s so difficult.”

For most Buffs fans over 35, Salaam still runs to daylight in their hearts. The minute he de-planed in Broomfield, Deion Sanders stuck a giant CU pin on the national map again. If you happened to join Buffs Nation on Dec. 3, 2022, do yourself a favor: Go to YouTube.com, or Google. Then type “Rashaan Salaam, highlights.”

Watch him juke one Miami defender, then drag two more Hurricanes with him into the end zone. Watch him fly like Superman into the end zone at Michigan Stadium. Watch him hurdle Oklahoma defenders. Watch him shatter about 486 Kansas State arm tackles. Watch him rumble for 134 yards at Nebraska. Just for fun.

Peak Salaam was the complete package, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound hammer who ran with Leroy Kelly’s anger and Gene Kelly’s grace.

In 1994, he became just the fourth Football Bowl Subdivision player to rack up at least 2,000 rushing yards before a bowl game. He led the country in rushing, scoring (24 TDs) and all-purpose yardage. His 141 yards at Michigan were the most by any opponent in Ann Arbor since Archie Griffin’s 163 back in 1973. His 11-1 Buffs faced six ranked teams over the season’s first eight weeks. Salaam averaged 173.5 rushing yards against that dirty half-dozen.

And yet the play he was proudest of came on Sept. 24, 1994, at the Big House — the block in the backfield that freed up teammate Kordell Stewart to throw the “Miracle at Michigan” to Michael Westbrook. On a team of superstars, Salaam was a bashful giant, deferential and unselfish to the last.

“I would tell (Hunter’s family) to not be fearful,” Khalada continued. “To enjoy the moment. And to help him with his finances, to make sure that (that’s taken care of) … football’s not going to last forever.

“Just enjoy it. Enjoy it. Try not to ego-trip it too hard, with the Heisman … stay connected to the God within. In the long run, that’s all I would say. Take care of yourself. Enjoy it. But protect your finances if you can.

“I appreciate it now more so than I did when it was happening.”

Her son’s relationship with the Heisman, and the expectations that came with it, became complicated. Over the 22 years after winning the award, the ex-Buffs great returned to the Heisman ceremony, as a member of college football’s most elite fraternity, just five more times. This week, like the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio, is a homecoming weekend for past winners, a chance to share in the spotlight again, to catch up.

Salaam wanted to move on. He sold his Heisman ring for roughly $8,000 in 2011; he sold his statue three years later. In 2016, it fetched $399,608 in an online auction, raising funds to CTE-related medical research in Salaam’s memory.

When the soft-spoken Buffs back attended Heisman festivities as a finalist, one of his running buddies in New York was a gregarious Miami Hurricane defensive lineman named Warren Sapp.

Three decades later, that same Sapp is now a member of the CU football family, having joined Sanders’ coaching staff as a senior quality control analyst.

Sometimes, history can tie things together with wonderful, unexpected bows.

“He would love (Hunter),” Salaam-Alaji said. “There would be no competition. It would be only encouragement. And being proud. That’s who Rashaan was.”

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For more information on The Rashaan Salaam Foundation, or to donate, visit rashaansalaamfoundation.org

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