Former A&M RB Lewis dies from cancer at 55

Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff WriterJun 21, 2024, 03:25 PM ET
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Darren Lewis, the Texas A&M star who broke Eric Dickerson’s Southwest Conference rushing record before addiction derailed his football career and post-football life, died on Thursday night at age 55 from cancer.

Lewis, a high school star at Dallas’ powerhouse Carter High School, was among the country’s top prospects in 1987, often mentioned alongside Emmitt Smith. He rushed for 5,012 yards between 1987-1990, breaking Dickerson’s mark (previously held by Earl Campbell) of 4,450 yards, before bowl statistics were included. He finished his career fifth on the NCAA career rushing list, behind Tony Dorsett, Charles White, Herschel Walker and Archie Griffin.

A two-time All-American while in College Station, “Tank,” as he was known because of his punishing running style, is still 1,309 yards ahead of second place on the career rushing list at Texas A&M.

But during the NFL draft process, Lewis said he was exposed to cocaine at parties and by prospective agents, and was assured he would test clean. Instead, he was the only player who tested positive for cocaine at the combine, and his stock plummeted to the sixth round, where he was drafted by the Chicago Bears, who claimed they did not know of his negative test, and sent to rehab.

He started just five games among his 33 appearances in the NFL for the Bears, rushing for 431 yards in his career. He never failed a drug test, but he was arrested for domestic battery and released in 1993.

Lewis did not attempt to continue playing and returned to Dallas to try to straighten out his life, but he continued to struggle with addiction. He told Texas A&M’s 12th Man Magazine he had lost all of his money and his house by 1995, then was arrested for the first time on shoplifting charges in 1998. He was arrested again in 2004, 2005 and 2006, landing in state prison on robbery charges, and released in 2010.

In 2014, he was sentenced to 27 years in prison in for a string of armed robberies at hotels and convenience stores, including shooting a 7-11 cashier in the leg, which Lewis claimed was an accident.

“I was selfish. I just wanted what Darren Lewis wanted and I didn’t think about the people I may be hurting,” Lewis told the Bryan-College Station Eagle last week. “It was all about what I wanted at that time.”

Lewis was imprisoned in Pollock, Louisiana, where he developed a mass on his shoulder that later ruptured, and was determined to be metastatic squamous cell carcinoma, which begins as skin cancer and later spreads to organs.

He was moved to a prison in North Carolina for medical care before being released last year as part of a compassionate release program.

Lewis told The Eagle last week while he was in hospice care that he was grateful for the long sentence, because it allowed him to turn his life around in prison.

He said that he hoped that his life would be a lesson to others.

“I encourage the young people to use me as an example,” Lewis told the newspaper. “Making the wrong choice could cost you your career, your life, your family and your friends. It doesn’t cost you anything to make the right decisions, but make one wrong decision and it could cost you your life.”