A two-sport All-American and Kansas City Chiefs Pro Bowl running back who died in a 1983 attempt to rescue three drowning children, the Haughton native was the subject of a 2015 ESPN 30 For 30 short film … A two-time All-America running back in 1979-80 for the Demons … the converted receiver set NCAA, state and school records in his first full season at RB with a 299-yard rushing explosion vs. Nicholls in his sophomore season … set single-season (1,110 yards, 1980) and career (3,047 yards) rushing records … his No. 44 is retired … member of the College Football and Louisiana Sports Halls of Fame, and the Chiefs Ring of Honor … joined Mark Duper, Victor Oatis and Mario Johnson on the Demons’ 1981 NCAA championship 4x100 meter relay team, earning All-America track honors six weeks after being the Chiefs’ No. 2 draft pick … 1981 AFC Rookie of the Year … held school 200 meter record for nearly 30 years … … on Top 100 Demons of the Century roster chosen for 2007 football centennial celebration
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October 28 marks the anniversary of one of the great performances in state college football history. Against Nicholls on Oct. 28, 1978 at Turpin Stadium, Demon sophomore tailback Joe Delaney erupted for 299 yards rushing and 4 TDs on 28 carries, shattering NSU, state and I-AA records.
He set what were school, state and NCAA Division I-AA single-game records for rushing yards. His school records for rushing yards and touchdowns in a game still stand today. The enshrinee only had 36 yards rushing on 9 carries at halftime of a scoreless game. On the Demons’ first play of the second half, Delaney raced 87 yards for a TD, on what was the second-longest TD run in school history at the time. After Nicholls scored a pair of touchdowns, he made it 14-12 Demons on a 1-yarder, going to the fourth quarter with 148 yards. Early in the final period, he ripped loose for a 71-yard TD to break the Demons’ single-game rushing record and make it 21-12. Less than two minutes later, he dashed 25 yards for the fourth TD. Late in the game an 11-yard run broke the old state rushing record. By the time the game ended, Delaney and backfield mate Brett Knecht had combined to break eight NCAA I-AA records.Delaney's 263 yards rushing in the second half on 19 carries, and 151 in the fourth quarter on 11 carries set I-AA marks Knecht added a career-best 146 yards to give the tandem a total of 445, a I-AA record. At the time, Delaney’s 4 TDs and 24 points and four rushing TDs were I-AA records (the division was just a year old). His 379 all-purpose yards (299 rushing, 4 receiving, 76 on kickoff returns) was another I-AA mark and remains a school record today. Delaney’s legacy is much larger than football. His heroic death in 1983, drowning while trying to save three children from the same fate (one survived), made the man a legend. The 20th anniversary of his passing this past June brought a round of stories, including features by Rick Reilly in Sports Illustrated and on ESPN SportsCenter. There’s the 37Forever Foundation, started by Delaney admirers who are Kansas City Chiefs fans, and benefiting inner-city youth by providing free swimming lessons and scholarships (www.37Forever.org). In fact, among the innumerable tributes -- including a permanent shrine to him under the west stands at Turpin Stadium -- we’ve stumbled across perhaps the most obscure. There’s a collection of small, private prep schools -- mostly in Northern Virginia -- that are part of the Delaney Athletic Conference (www.eteamz.com/delaneyathleticconference) named after Joe Delaney. Just because he was the kind of person, and athlete, young people ought to admire.
Heroism
On June 29, 1983, Delaney was at Chennault Park in Monroe, Louisiana, when he heard the cries of three young boys drowning in a pond. Delaney could not swim but jumped in anyway in an attempt to save them. One of the boys, a 6-year old, was able to make it out of the pond due to Joe's heroism. The other two boys, 11-year old Lancer Perkins and 11-year old Harry Holland, Jr., died with Delaney. After his death, Delaney was honored in 1984 with the NCAA Award of Valor. Delaney was married to his wife Carolyn and had 3 daughters, ages 7, 5 and 4 months old when he died. Also he now has a granddaughter named Shaqavia Delaney;she now lives in Haughton, Louisiana. The pond turned out to be an area where construction workers kept dirt for a waterslide at the city park that had filled with rain water. It covered two acres.
In July of 1983, President Ronald Reagan posthumously awarded Joe the Presidential Citizen’s Medal. Joe posthumously received the NCAA Award of Valor in 1984, and in 2004 Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt retired his number 37 in the Chiefs “Ring of Honor” that surrounds the inside of Arrowhead Stadium. He was inducted in to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.
