(Written August, 1997)

The images flash by, as fast as Joe Delaney used to explode past onrushing defenders who really thought they could catch him.

These are images of an unforgettable competitor… memories of long touchdown runs, shocking in their suddenness. Northwestern State's Number 44 might have seemed bottled up as he tried to tum the comer, then BOOM! He was 20 yards down field, leaving speedy cornerbacks along his vapor trail.

There are many more memories…

* Of a guy who switched from his natural position, wide receiver, as a college freshman because the Demons were running short of capable tailbacks. Joe didn't know how to play running back, and his on-the-job training was at times frustrating to watch. But he never stopped going all out, and that helped him blossom into a great one near the end of his sophomore year, 1978. It all came together after halftime against Nicholls State, in the game he ran for 299 yards and four TDs- 263 yards in the second half, still a national record for most yards in one half.

* Of the 1980 State Fair Game against Louisiana Tech, two weeks after he separated his shoulder midway through his senior year. It was a big game. The team needed him. The pain would eventually subside. Joe played. Fearlessly. He scored two touchdowns. Two weeks later against a Neil Lomax-led Portland State team, he ran 35 times for 253 yards and carried the Demons to a 40-21 victory. In the next game, he ran 41 times for 231 yards and NSU won again.

* Of his broad smile, which was never gone for long.

* Of the consummate teammate. After he was picked by Kansas City in the second round of the 1981 NFL Draft, Joe never gave a thought to dropping off the Demon track team. Instead, he risked injury and remained as the second leg on the NSU 4xI00 meter relay squad. They went on to win the NCAA Division I national championship six weeks after the draft, outrunning quartets from Georgia and Tennessee featuring athletes like Herschel Walker and Willie Gault.

* Of a family man who married his high school sweetheart and started a family while beginning college. Joe D. almost quit school to go to work and support his family. He had to be talked out of it by his wife, Carolyn. They pinched and squeezed pennies, and had another daughter in his junior year. Meanwhile, Joe walked around campus in faded plaid slacks and worn tennis shoes, dressing down not as a style statement as much as out of necessity. When he finally made some money with his pro football contract, he built a simple two-bedroom brick house back home in Haughton, on the same street where his mother and Carolyn's folks lived. His only extravagance was a fully-loaded baby blue Cougar.

These are images from a life all too brief.

Joe Delaney drowned June 29, 1983, trying to save three young boys from the same fate. One survived. He lives today because Joe D. gave his own life and saved him. Think about that for a moment.

For anyone who ever saw Joe play, and especially for anyone who ever knew Joe, those images never fade. They never will.

That is assured by his induction last summer in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, and now, by his recent enshrinement in the College Football Hall of Fame. For generations to come, Joe Delaney's athletic exploits and, more important, the remarkable fabric of his character, will be the stuff of legend.

As it should be.

Humble. Heroic. Unselfish. Unassuming. These words all fit as I search for an adequate way to describe this great man.

Let some people you've heard of tell you about the person they knew….

* "Having the opportunity to be a teammate of Joe Delaney at Northwestern for one season gave me the chance to see and learn what people mean when they speak of character." -Gary Reasons, a 1996 College Football Hall of Fame inductee and 1980 teammate at NSU.

* "He stood out as an exceptional individual right from the start…. he set an example to young and old alike with his work ethic and attitude both on and off the football field."- John Mackovic, Delaney's coach at the Blue-Gray All-Star Game and briefly with Kansas City.

* "A dear friend and a great teammate."- Bobby Hebert, Joe's quarterback at NSU.

* "In a league often dominated by veteran players and inflated egos, Joe displayed his skills with a grace and humility far beyond his years…. While Joe Delaney's athletic accomplishments are many, it will be the character, the dedication, and the genuine good nature of this man which we will always treasure in Mid America."-- Lamar Hunt, founder and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, who brought his wife with him to Joe's funeral and set up a trust fund that takes care of Carolyn and the family.

* "I've coached 45 years and if you ask me to name five players who jump out at me, Joe Delaney would definitely be on that list. He is sorely missed by people who knew him."- Marv Levy, Joe's coach at Kansas City and now coach of the Buffalo Bills.

I am proud that Northwestern perpetuates the memory of Joe Delaney with the Delaney Memorial Weekend, which includes the Delaney Bowl spring football game and a golf tournament that raises money for athletic scholarships. He would be proud of helping others attend college.

It is even more appropriate that Demon football coach Sam Goodwin, who barely got to know Joe after being hired less than a half-year before the accident, chose several years ago to create the Joe Delaney Leadership Awards. They are given to the two players voted permanent team captains by their teammates following each season. One man of integrity wisely recognized the opportunity to put forth the highest standard of leadership for Demon football players now and forever more. Thanks, Sam.

I am glad Joe Delaney was a superb athlete. It gave us all the opportunity to see the true greatness inside him.

Few of us will ever run for a touchdown, let alone sign a pro sports contract or be profiled in national magazines or on network TV. The lucky ones who reach those heights rarely handle their prominence with as much humility and dignity as Joe did.

For all of the images that rush through my mind, one lingers longer than the rest. You can share it with me.

Underneath the west grandstand at NSU's Turpin Stadium, located appropriately in the very heart of the structure, is a memorial to Joe Delaney.

On a pedestal is a plaque bearing an inscription and a likeness of Joe. Above it, on a pillar, are six photos of Joe during his football career at NSU and with the Chiefs. In all but a couple, he is running with the ball. Running hard, as always.

In one, he is on the Demons' sideline, helmet off, beaming and jubilantly hugging a shorter, white teammate.

It's not Bobby Hebert or Gary Reasons or one of his offensive linemen. That player was Andy Perot, younger brother of Demon great and NFL veteran offensive lineman Petey Perot.

Andy, a freshman nose guard, was about a half-foot shorter and I00 pounds smaller than Petey, and, a guy who didn't play much in his first season, Joe's senior year, 1980.

That didn't matter to Joe. Andy was a teammate. That made him family.

At a time when the stars of the game are commonly surrounded by well-wishers and sportswriters and cameras and such, the Demons' All-America tailback was hugging a fourth-team defensive lineman.

That was the guy we knew, the guy we called "Joe D."

They will put a lot of stars into the College Football Hall of Fame in years to come.

There will never be one that will shine more brightly.

***

The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame inducted Joe Delaney in the College Football Hall of Fame at South Bend, Indiana, on Aug. 16, 1997. This tribute was written earlier that week. Joe Delaney gave his life on June 29, 1983, trying to save three drowning children in a pond in Monroe. One survived. It's been 34 years and our pride in Joe has not lessened one ounce.