Regan Charles Upshaw is a retired 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...

 lineman who played 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...

 between 1996 and 2004. He was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...

 in the first round of the 1996 NFL Draft

1996 NFL Draft

The 1996 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 20–21, 1996...

 out of the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

.

Upshaw was known for his outspoken personality and he proclaimed himself the "Modern Day Gladiator

Gladiator

A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...

".

In high school, Upshaw played for the Pittsburg Pirates (Pittsburg, California

Pittsburg, California

Pittsburg is a city located in eastern Contra Costa County, California, the outer portion of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 63,264 at the 2010 census....

), helping defeat the previously undefeated De La Salle

De La Salle

De La Salle is the name of several educational institutions affiliated with the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, also known as the Lasallian Brothers, a Roman Catholic religious teaching order founded by French priest Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle:* Lasallian educational...

in the 1991 NCS championship game played at the Oakland Colesium. The final score was 35-27. This was the last defeat De La Salle suffered before setting a national high school record of 151 continuous victories.
Upshaw, who did not play football until his sophomore year at Pittsburg, was a Parade All-America as a senior. He chose the University of California and by his junior year was named All-America.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected him with the 12th pick overall in the 1996 NFL draft. He later played for the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and the Oakland Raiders. In 2000 during his time with the Raiders, Upshaw was fined $29,412 for spitting in the face of the Pittsburgh Steelers' punter, Josh Miller, during a game. "It wasn't even a loogie. It was just some spray. . . . I don't understand--$30,000 for spitting on somebody," he said in response to the announcement of his fine.

According to his family, Upshaw is currently an Assistant Project Manager for Monarc Construction in the Washington, D.C., area.