Barry David Sanders (born July 16, 1968) is an American former professional football running back who played for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. Sanders led the league in rushing yards four times and in rushing touchdowns once. Standing at 5 ft. 8 in. tall and weighing 200 lbs., he established himself as one of the most elusive runners in the history of the NFL with his quickness and agility. Sanders is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs of all time. He played college football for the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
As a junior in 1988, Sanders compiled what is widely considered one of the greatest individual seasons by a running back in college football history, rushing for a record 2,628 yards and 37 touchdowns, in 11 games. He was awarded the Heisman Trophy, and was unanimously recognized as an All-American. Sports Illustrated named his 1988 season as the third-most impressive college sports feat of all time, behind Jesse Owens setting four world records in a single hour, and Cael Sanderson's perfect wrestling record of 159–0, winning four consecutive national titles.
Sanders was selected by the Lions in the 1989 NFL draft, and had an immediate impact in his rookie season, winning the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award. In 1991, Sanders helped lead the Lions to their first postseason win since 1958. In 1994, Sanders was awarded the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award (OPOY). In 1997, he rushed for 2,053 yards in the regular season and was co-awarded the NFL Most Valuable Player Award (shared with Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre), alongside his second NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award. While still performing at a high level, Sanders unexpectedly retired from professional football in 1999, at the age of 31, and 1,457 yards short of breaking the NFL's then all-time rushing record held by Walter Payton.
Sanders cited the Lions' front office and declining team production as reasons for his early retirement. He finished his career with 15,269 rushing yards (fourth all-time), and 99 rushing touchdowns (tenth all-time); in each of his ten seasons he was selected to a Pro Bowl and All-Pro team. The Lions retired Sanders' No. 20 jersey on November 25, 2004, and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame three months prior. A year later, Sanders was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame with former college teammate Thurman Thomas.
In 2007, he was ranked by NFL Networks' NFL Top 10 series as the most elusive runner in NFL history, and was placed No. 1 on the list of the greatest players never to play in a Super Bowl. He is considered by many as one of the greatest running backs in NFL history. Bleacher Report ranked Sanders No. 1 on their list of greatest running backs in NFL history. He averaged 1,527 rushing yards per season and just under 100 rushing yards per game (99.8).
Sanders was born on July 16, 1968, in Wichita, Kansas, the seventh of eleven children to William and Shirley Sanders. His father worked as a roofer and carpenter, while his mother worked as a homemaker for the Sanders family. Sanders and two of his brothers worked as roofers' assistants to his father. As a child, Sanders was known for having an appetite, being able to eat an entire loaf of bread in one sitting. He would often listen to regional college sports games that his father would play on TV. Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press wrote: "All day they would labor, with the hammers, with the tar, sweating in the hot summer sun. You did not complain in the Sanders family. Not unless you wanted a good whupping."
Sanders played football at Wichita North High School. Before this, he enjoyed playing youth football and basketball. Although Barry dreamed of playing running back, he played only defensive back for most of his high school career. Sanders was labeled as an undersized back and wasn't a starter at tailback as a junior due to future Chicago Bears draft pick and older brother Byron Sanders running the rock. When Byron graduated and left for Northwestern University on a football scholarship, Sanders was expected to start at tailback in his senior year—but instead was started at wingback—a variant of the wide receiver position. His head coach at the time perceived that his small stature would be a liability and that he "lacked contact courage." Besides taking part in football, he played basketball as a guard. Table-tennis and baseball were also sports that Sanders took part in. During this period—according to writer Samuel Crompton—the Sanders family was impoverished and had to "scrimp and save to get by".
Sanders did not become the starting running back until the fourth game of his senior year, when the original player was suspended for disciplinary reasons; he rushed for 274 yards and four touchdowns in that game. He rushed for 1,417 yards on 139 rushing attempts, averaging 10.2 yards per rushing attempt, and scored 17 touchdowns through his seven-game senior season. In the last game of the season, Wichita North's head coach, Dale Burkholder, offered Sanders more playing time in order to gain enough rushing yards to reach the state rushing title, but Sanders declined, saying it was "not important." For his season, Sanders earned all-state honors, and was named an Honorable Mention All-American. Although he was viewed as a stellar athlete, because of his short stature Sanders received scholarship offers from only Wichita State University, Iowa State University, University of Tulsa, and Oklahoma State University; he accepted the offer from Oklahoma State.
Sanders later said that his choice to play at Oklahoma State caused a conflict between him and his father. When Oklahoma State's coach came to his father's house with a letter of intent the day Sanders signed with the team, William was dismayed, saying as the coach walked out the door that his signing was a misguided decision. His father was similarly frustrated because Oklahoma State was a conference rival of the Oklahoma Sooners, whom William was a fan of. A friend of Sanders told him that William said Sanders had chosen to play at Oklahoma State "in order to hide"; Sanders would be the backup of Heisman candidate Thurman Thomas, as opposed to playing at a school where he would be the starting running back. Eventually, his father supported Sanders at Oklahoma State, and attended all of his games when he played.
Sanders enrolled at Oklahoma State University, where he played for the Oklahoma State Cowboys from 1986 to 1988 and wore the No. 21 jersey. During his first two years, he backed up Thomas at running back. In 1986, Sanders played in eight games and rushed for 325 rushing yards on 74 rushing attempts, with two rushing touchdowns. In 1987, he led the nation in yards per kickoff return (31.6), while rushing for 603 yards and scoring nine rushing touchdowns, catching four passes for 58 receiving yards and a touchdown, and scoring two touchdowns from 29 total special teams returns. He was named a second-team College Football All-American as a return specialist. While still a backup to Thomas, he received notable attention from his opponents. Oklahoma Sooners head coach Barry Switzer in particular told his players not to injure Thomas, in fear of Sanders starting in his place, telling them: "You won't touch this kid". Sanders was not fond of this as he believed Thomas to be a good teammate. Thomas moved on to the NFL in 1988, which allowed Sanders to become the starter for his junior year in college.
In 1988, in what is considered one of the greatest individual seasons in college football history, Sanders became the first player to open two consecutive seasons with a 100-yard kickoff return. He led the nation by averaging 7.6 yards per attempt and over 200 yards per game, including rushing for over 300 yards in four games. Despite his massive workload of 344 attempts, Sanders was still used as the team's punt and kickoff returner, adding another 516 yards on special teams. He set college football season records with 2,628 yards rushing, 3,250 total all-purpose yards, broken by Christian McCaffrey in 2015, 234 points, broken by Montee Ball in 2011, 37 rushing touchdowns, and 39 total touchdowns, (37 rushing, one kick return, one punt return, tied with Ball).