Ennis Haywood is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 running back

Running back

A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

 in the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 for the Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

.

Football career

Ennis Haywood was a Dallas Carter High School

David W. Carter High School

David Wendel Carter High School is a public school located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas . David W. Carter High School, which covers grades 9-12, is a part of the Dallas Independent School District....

 standout for two years. He played college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Iowa State University

Iowa State University

Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...

. As a junior and again as a senior, Ennis led the Big 12

Big 12 Conference

The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...

in rushing in 2000 and 2001, leading the Cyclones to back to back bowl appearances. He ranks fifth on Iowa State's all-time rushing yards list with 2,862 yards and sixth with 27 rushing touchdowns.

He was on the Cowboys practice squad in 2002 before competing for a roster spot in 2003.

Death

Haywood was rushed to the hospital on May 10, 2003 after he fell asleep and began vomiting in his sleep. He was later taken off life support when the family was informed of the Texas hospital law (stating if there is no brain activity after 36 hours, a patient can no longer be on life support). It was later found that a mixture of prescription medications and alcohol played a part in his death.

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