Joe Delaney lived a life on and off the field driven by a selfless dedication to those around him. It was a personality trait that would establish him as one of the premier running backs of his time while leading him to make the ultimate sacrifice later in life. Delaney’s seemingly limitless life tragically ended when he attempted to save three children on June 29, 1983. One child survived, while the other two, along with Delaney, drowned at the bottom of a twenty-foot rain-filled construction pit. It was even more remarkable to consider the heroics of Delaney knowing that he had never learned to swim.
Within the year, President Ronald Reagan awarded Delaney the second-highest award for a civilian, the Presidential Citizens Medal, for making “the ultimate sacrifice by placing the lives of three children above his own.”
Even at an early age, Joe’s character took an altruistic path. “Joe was a hell of a lot better person than he was an athlete, and he was a fantastic athlete,” said his high school coach, Billy Don McHalffey. “When I think about it, I just think about what his mother told me. She said, ‘The good Lord needs good people up there as much as we do down here.’”
Joe continues to be memorialized in the hearts of those that he touched and in the kind words spoken of him. Randall Webb, president of Northwestern State during Delaney’s 1977-80 stint, said of Joe, “His humility, his unselfishness, his inspirational abilities were truly remarkable. The heroic manner in which he left our world typifies the way he lived each day.” Delaney finished his career at Northwestern State with a rushing record of 3,047 yards and 31 touchdowns.
During his time at Northwestern, he married his wife Carolyn, and together they shared the joy in the birth of their first daughter, Tamika. To Joe, his new family would take absolute precedence over his athletic aspirations. “After we began a family, Joe didn’t want to go to school,” Carolyn said. “He thought he should work to take care of us. We talked about him quitting all the time, but I didn’t want to have him quit because of me. I knew if he did he would always wonder, ‘What if…?’”
A track star in high school and college, Joe Delaney was one of the premier speed running backs to ever play the game. He graduated and went on to enjoy an excellent rookie season with Marv Levy’s Kansas City Chiefs. Coach Levy made sure to put Delaney’s speed to good use. “I remember one play against Denver, he ran a sweep 75 yards for a touchdown,” Levy said. “Well, the darn thing was called back for offsides. The very next play, we ran the same thing, and he took it 80 yards for a touchdown.”
Joe Delaney was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997, but it is difficult to proclaim this as his most lasting legacy. Beyond his outstanding career in football, his spirit will endure through the loving wife and three daughters he left behind as well as the ultimate sacrifice that cost him his life.
