David Overstreet

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David Arthur Overstreet (September 20, 1958(1958-09-20) – June 25, 1984) was a star running back in the Canadian Football League.

A native of Big Sandy, Texas, Overstreet prepped at Big Sandy High School, where one of his teammates was Lovie Smith. Big Sandy won three consecutive Class B state championships 1973-75. After scoring 362 points in 1975 — which is third all-time in Texas high school history behind Ken Hall of Sugar Land and Robert Strait of Cuero — Overstreet played his college football with the powerhouse University of Oklahoma Sooners.

He was drafted in the 1981 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins in the first round, 13th pick overall. A contract dispute with the Dolphins led him to sign with the Montreal Alouettes, who, under the misguided ownership of Nelson Skalbania, tried to buy a big money winning team.

His first season (1981) was successful, as he rushed for 952 yards and was the Alouettes rookie of the year. His second season, with the newly renamed and dreadful Montreal Concordes, was plagued by injury, and he only gained 190 yards rushing.

He returned to the Dolphins in 1983, and showed much promise, rushing for 392 yards in 14 games with a 4.6 yards per carry average.

Unfortunately, in June of 1984 he was killed when his car swerved off a highway into gasoline pumps at a service station and exploded.

He was survived by his son David Overstreet Jr., who is an all star safety at the University of Missouri.

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