Winning the Heisman Trophy in 1988, Barry Sanders averaged 200 yards per game during Oklahoma State's 1988 Holiday Bowl season. In addition, Sanders shattered several NCAA single season and career marks, including leading the nation in rushing yards with 2,628 yards, all purpose yards with 3,249 yards, touchdowns scored at 39 and posting an all-time rushing record. In total, Barry Sanders set a staggering 34 NCAA records during his march to the Heisman trophy.

Barry is the only Heisman winner to be notified of his achievement in Tokyo, Japan. Sanders and his Cowboy teammates were awaiting the final game of the season, the Coca-Cola Classic against Texas Tech. The Cowboys would go on to win that game, 45-42.

Returning stateside, Sanders played his last game in the orange and black in the 1988 Sea World Holiday Bowl against Wyoming. Barry thrilled the Cowboy faithful in San Diego with one of his signature performances, racking up 222 yards and five touchdowns in only three quarters of play. Sanders declined to play in the fourth quarter, though being just three yards way from Craig James’s Holiday Bowl rushing record, and was simply satisfied that Oklahoma State would go on to win the game.

Sanders, the Detroit Lions' number one pick in the 1989 NFL Draft, continued to dazzle and mesmerize defenses with his awesome speed, versatility, and evasive maneuvers. Barry was named the 1989 Rookie of the Year, and is a 10-time NFL Pro Bowl player. In addition to his transcendent on-field performance, Barry donates a tremendous amount of time and money to local charities and religious organizations in Detroit, the state of Oklahoma and his hometown of Wichita, Kansas.

One of the game’s most electrifying runners, Barry Sanders rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his 10 seasons with the Detroit Lions (1989-1998). He was the first running back ever to do so. The 1988 Heisman Trophy winner was also just the third person to gain more than 2,000 yards in a season, a feat he accomplished in 1997.

Sanders, after forgoing his senior season at Oklahoma State, made his pro debut just three days after signing with the Lions, who had made him their first-round pick and the third overall pick in the 1989 draft. He absolutely dazzled a Pontiac Silverdome crowd when he dashed for an 18-yard gain on his first carry as an NFL running back. But that was just the beginning. His 1,470 yards rushing that season, a-then Lions record, fell just 10 yards short of the league’s best for the year.

In 1990, Sanders, with 1,304 yards rushing, topped all ground gainers, something he would do again in 1994 (1,883 yards) and in 1996 (1,553 yards). His 44 receptions for 283 yards in 1994 gave him a combined 2,166 yards from scrimmage. The most impressive feat of his remarkable career, however, came in 1997, when he rushed for a league-best 2,053 yards and gained another 305 yards on 33 catches for an amazing 2,358 combined yards gained. That year, Sanders, who was named league Most Valuable Player, gained more than 100 yards rushing in an NFL record 14 consecutive regular season games.

Though not big by most standards, Sanders capitalized on his size by running low to the ground making him less of a target for would-be tacklers. His elusiveness and ability to reverse direction seemingly at will, often left defensive players grasping at air. “He makes you miss so bad, you kind of look up in the stands and wonder if anybody’s looking at you,” Atlanta Falcons cornerback D.J. Johnson once remarked. “You’ve got 60,000 people in there and you wonder if anyone saw you miss that tackle.”

A first- or second-team All-Pro ten consecutive seasons, Sanders became the first NFL running back to record five 1,500-yard rushing seasons, in addition to being the only back to do so in four consecutive seasons (1994-1997).

Selected to play in the Pro Bowl each of his 10 NFL seasons, Sanders held nearly every Lions’ rushing record and numerous all-time NFL records, at the time of his retirement.