LaDainian Tomlinson

LaDainian Tomlinson

L.T. after breaking the TD record in 2006.
San Diego Chargers — No. 21
Running back
Date of Birth: June 23 1979 (1979-06-23) (age 28)
Place of Birth: Rosebud, Texas
Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Weight: 221 lb (100 kg)
National Football League Debut
2001 for the San Diego Chargers
Career Highlights and Awards
Mobile Alabama Bowl MVP (2000) Doak Walker Award (2000) Senior Bowl Most Valuable Player (2001) AP NFL MVP (2006) PFWA NFL MVP (2006) Co-Walter Payton M.O.Y Winner (2006) Best NFL Player ESPY Award (2007) Best Record-Breaking Performance ESPY Award (2007) Best Male Athlete ESPY Award (2007) 5x Pro Bowl selection (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) 5x All-Pro selection (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006) List of records
Career History
College: Texas Christian
NFL Draft: 2001 / Round: 1 / Pick: 5
Teams: San Diego Chargers (2001-present)
Stats at NFL.com

LaDainian Tomlinson (born June 23, 1979) is an American football player who currently plays running back for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League. Tomlinson, frequently called "LT",^[1] set several records during the 2006 NFL season by scoring a league-leading 186 points. He received additional honors by winning the NFL’s Most Valuable Player Award and the Associated Press’ Offensive Player of the Year Award.^[2]

Early years

LaDainian Tomlinson was born to Loreane Chappelle and the late Oliver Tomlinson in Rosebud, Texas. His early life was full of adversity; his brother and grandfather died when he was a child, and his father became permanently disabled after suffering a severe back injury. Later, his parents divorced, and Loreane was forced to support the remaining members of the family by herself. However before leaving, Tomlinson’s father instilled an affection for football in his son. Tomlinson attended University High School in Waco, Texas, where he played basketball, baseball, and football. Tomlinson began his football career as a linebacker, but blossomed on the offensive side of the ball. During his senior year, Tomlinson’s rigorous work ethic and talent led him to become the featured back for the Trojans. Tomlinson amassed 2,554 yards and 39 touchdowns that year, earning honors as the District 25-4A Most Valuable Player, Super Centex Offensive Player of the Year, and a spot on a second-team All-State team.^[3][4] Tomlinson was an avid Dallas Cowboys and Miami Hurricanes fan during his youth. He especially idolized Walter Payton, Jim Brown, and Emmitt Smith. He trained with Smith during a summer camp. In a later interview with ESPN, Tomlinson stated that his playing style and mentality were influenced by the three running backs.^[3][5][6]

College career

Tomlinson was recruited by many schools, but was not considered one of the nation's top backs coming out of high school. Many have felt this was because Tomlinson didn't play tailback (and put up big-time rushing stats) until his senior year in high school and many top colleges had already made their recruiting choices by then. Thus, Tomlinson signed with Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, a small school then in the Western Athletic Conference. Prior to Tomlinson's arrival, TCU had appeared in only one bowl game in the previous 12 seasons (and 2 in the previous 34), and had recently been "downgraded" to a minor conference (the Western Athletic Conference) after the breakup of the long-standing Southwest Conference. TCU is now part of the Mountain West Conference. During Tomlinson's freshman and sophomore years, he split time with Basil Mitchell. In the 1998 season he helped the Horned Frogs win its first bowl game in 41 years against the University of Southern California in the Sun Bowl.^[7] During his junior season in 1999, he set an NCAA record for yards in one game with 406 against UTEP. He ended the year with an NCAA-leading 1,850 yards rushing to go along with 18 touchdowns. In his senior season in 2000, Tomlinson led the NCAA for the second time with 2,158 yards and 22 touchdowns while piling on 354 yards receiving. He won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's best running back, and was a finalist for the Heisman, but came in fourth. He completed his college career with 5,263 rushing yards, ranking sixth in NCAA Division I history.^[8] The school retired his jersey number (5) during halftime of a November 2005 game against UNLV.^[9] In December of that year, Tomlinson fulfilled a promise to his mother by earning his degree in communications from TCU.^[10]

NFL career

2001 NFL Draft

The San Diego Chargers selected Tomlinson in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft, as the fifth overall pick. It should be noted that the Chargers possessed the Draft’s first selection, but traded the pick to the Atlanta Falcons, who drafted Michael Vick. In this way, many consider that Vick and Tomlinson were “traded” for each other, although the transaction was actually the result of traded draft picks and his exact contract negotiations. Many would believe that the Falcons got the better of the trade, until Vick was convicted on dog-fighting charges. ^[11] The Chargers gave the rights to select Vick at the 1st pick to the Falcons in exchange for the fifth overall pick in the first round (Tomlinson), the 67th overall pick in the third-round (Tay Cody), their second-round pick in 2002 which turned into Reche Caldwell as the 48th overall pick that year and wide receiver Tim Dwight.^[12]

(* represents NFL Combine)

San Diego Chargers

Jeremiah Trotter tackles Tomlinson in the 2006 Pro Bowl

L.T. after setting the single-season TD record in 2006.

Tomlinson immediately became the starting running back with the Chargers and has started all but one game since. He has achieved immediate success in the NFL, rushing for over 1,200 yards and making over 50 receptions in each of his seven seasons. He has also proven to be effective as a passer, having completed eight career passes, seven of them for touchdowns and a career passer rating of 154.4.^[15] In 2003, he became the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards and record 100 receptions in the same season.^[16] He also reached his 50th career touchdown in his 4th season (60th game) and was elected to the Pro Bowl team in 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006. Tomlinson also tied Lenny Moore's all-time record for consecutive games scoring a TD (18). On October 16, 2005, in the Chargers' victory over the Oakland Raiders, LaDainian Tomlinson became the 7th player in NFL history to run, catch, and throw for a touchdown in the same game. Despite breaking his ribs towards the end of the 2005 season, LaDainian continued to play and finished the season with 1,462 rushing yards, 370 receiving yards, and a career high 20 touchdowns (18 rushing, 2 receiving). In 2005 he was nominated for the FedEx Ground Player of the Year Award. Tomlinson placed third behind Tiki Barber and Shaun Alexander. In the 2006 season, he set an NFL record by scoring 19 touchdowns in a span of 6 games, including a franchise record 4 touchdowns in games against the San Francisco 49ers, Cincinnati Bengals and the Denver Broncos. He is the first to score three TDs in three straight games, and the first to have three games of four or more TDs in one season. He became the fastest player ever to score 100 touchdowns. On November 19, 2006, Tomlinson accomplished the milestone in 89 games with 102, beating the previous record of 93 games held by Jim Brown and Emmitt Smith. On December 3, Tomlinson became only the second running back (Eric Dickerson was the other) to rush for at least 1,200 yards in his first six NFL seasons. On December 7, he was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month.^[17] He scored his 29th touchdown against the Denver Broncos in just 13 games (Alexander set the record in 16).^[2] His 2 touchdown passes do not count toward this record because the NFL treats them in a separate category. With the first touchdown against Kansas City on December 17, he surpassed most points in a season by an NFL player; one which had stood for 46 years. Tomlinson would finish his record breaking season with 2,323 yards from scrimmage (combined rushing and receiving) and 31 touchdowns (28 rushing, 3 receiving). On January 4, 2007, Tomlinson was awarded with the NFL AP Most Valuable Player Award for his record-breaking season. He was the runaway winner, receiving 44 of the 50 votes from a panel of nationwide sportswriters and broadcasters who cover the NFL. Former teammate Drew Brees, now with New Orleans, received four votes and Indianapolis QB Peyton Manning received two votes. Tomlinson was also one of 9 Chargers players selected for the 2007 Pro Bowl and also a starting running back of the American Football Conference. He was also named AP Offensive Player of the Year and later named NBC Player of the Year. He was later named co-holder of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award alongside his aforementioned former teammate Drew Brees. On July 11, 2007, Tomlinson won the ESPY Awards for Male Athlete of the Year, Best Record-Breaking Performance and Best NFL Athlete, as well as the Hummer Like Nothing Else Award. Tomlinson went on to rush for 123 yards, catch 2 passes for 64 yards, and score 2 touchdowns in the Chargers divisional playoff loss to the New England Patriots on January 14, 2007. After the game, he was upset at the Patriots and their head coach Bill Belichick for performing a victory dance on the center-field logo at Qualcomm Stadium. On December 2, 2007 Tomlinson passed Walter Payton (110 career rushing TD's) on the all time rushing touchdown list, with his 111th career rushing TD, against the Kansas City Chiefs. A few days later, Tomlinson honored Payton by wearing his jersey during a press conference. Tomlinson led the league with a total of 1470 rushing yards in 2007.

Personal

LaDainian was introduced to his future wife, LaTorsha Oakley, while the two were students at TCU. They married on March 21st, 2003. The couple currently reside with their three dogs in a 10,000 square foot house in the upscale San Diego suburb of Poway. On February 23, 2007 in Waco, Texas, LaDainian's father, Oliver Tomlinson, and brother-in-law Ronald McClain, were killed in an auto accident from a blown tire,^[18] causing a one-vehicle rollover. McClain, 48, was taken by ambulance to Waco's Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, where he died around 4:40 p.m. Charlie Morgan of the Texas Department of Public Safety reported that both men were thrown from the pickup truck. Oliver, 71, was killed instantly, while McClain reached the hospital but subsequently died. LaDainian said he was devastated by these events but that the words and lessons given to him by his father will always live in him.^[19] In April 2007, Tomlinson turned down a request to become the cover athlete and official spokesperson for EA Sports' Madden NFL 08 video game.^[20] Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young was eventually selected for the cover. In June 2007, Tomlinson signed with FOXSports.com to promote FOX Sports Fantasy Football.^[21] Tomlinson was named the 2007 Most Unstoppable Jock on Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards on June 13, 2007, beating out finalist Kobe Bryant. According to Spike, over 25,000 individuals voted on this award. Tomlinson appeared via teleconference to accept the award. ^[22]

References

External links

• LaDainian Tomlinson at Chargers.com
• Tomlinson's personal website