Mel Kaufman
No. 55 | |||||||
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Position: | Linebacker | ||||||
Personal information | |||||||
Born: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. | February 24, 1958||||||
Died: | February 7, 2009 San Luis Obispo, California, U.S. | (aged 50)||||||
Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||
Weight: | 221 lb (100 kg) | ||||||
Career information | |||||||
High school: | Santa Monica (Santa Monica, California) | ||||||
College: | Cal Poly | ||||||
Undrafted: | 1981 | ||||||
Career history | |||||||
As a player: | |||||||
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As a coach: | |||||||
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Career highlights and awards | |||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||
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Player stats at NFL.com |
Melvin Kaufman (February 24, 1958 – February 7, 2009) was an American professional
Early life
Kaufman was born in Los Angeles, California and attended Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, California,[1] where he earned two varsity letters while playing high school football.
College career
Kaufman played four seasons of college football at Cal Poly after being redshirted in 1976. In 1978, he recovered a blocked punt against Portland State.
During Cal Poly's 1980 national championship season, Kaufman returned an interception 79 yards for a touchdown against Cal State Northridge.[2]
Kaufman earned his bachelor's degree in social science and industrial relations at Cal Poly in 1984.
Starting ahead of the 2010 season, Cal Poly created the Mel Kaufman Award, presented annually to the team's player who most exemplified Kaufman's virtues.[3]
Tackles | INT | LG Ret. | TD | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Career | 146 | 4 | 79t | 1 |
Professional career
Kaufman was signed as an
Kaufman announced his retirement from football on July 5, 1989. He started 78 of 91 career NFL games, recording 18.5 sacks, seven interceptions, 586 total tackles[4] and five fumble recoveries.[2]
Coaching career
After his playing career, Kaufman was a scouting supervisor for the Redskins from 1989 through 1998.[5] He then became a mental health counselor and football, basketball and baseball coach at Masada High School in Gardena, California from 2000–05 and a football official (youth and high school games) in the Pacific Coast Conference in 2006 and 2007.
Kaufman had been out of football at the college and professional levels for about 10 years before he was hired as
Personal life
Kaufman served as an assistant manager at Blue Sky's, a moving and storage company in Los Angeles, in 1998 and 1999. As a volunteer, he was director of the minority internship program and a training camp director for the Redskins, worked with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington, D.C., served on the board of directors for the Northern Virginia chapter of the American Lung Association as well as the board of advisors for Virginia Commerce Bank. Kaufman was also a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States military, working with and speaking to children and adults.[2]
Death
Kaufman died in his Santa Margarita home[6] about three weeks shy of his 51st birthday. An autopsy performed by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office revealed the cause of death as an intra-abdominal hemorrhage due to hemorrhagic pancreatitis.[7]
References
- ^ Scroggin, Joshua D. (April 24, 2009). "A Dream Cut Tragically Short: Mel Kaufman Loved Everything About Cal Poly and Was Living a Second Dream as an Assistant Coach Before Dying Suddenly". The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, CA). pp. S1.
- ^ a b c d e f "Cal Poly Hall of Famer, Super Bowl Winner Mel Kaufman Dies". Cal Poly Athletic Site. Archived from the original on 2009-02-14. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
- ^ Aird, Donovan (December 25, 2009). "The Tribune's Top Local Sports Stories of 2009 - 9. Former Poly Star, Coach Kaufman Dies at 50". San Luis Obispo Tribune. pp. S2.
- ^ "Mel Kaufman retires from Redskins". UPI. UPI Archives. July 5, 1989.
- ^ Wallner, Peter J. (October 8, 1993). "Kaufman will never forget day he got his big break". San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune. pp. C-1.
- ^ "Ex-Redskin Kaufman, 50, dies". ESPN. Associated Press. February 9, 2009.
- ^ Sanchez, Omar (February 24, 2009). "Kaufman's impact reached beyond the gridiron". Mustang Daily. p. 12.