25 years later: David Overstreet remembered
Twenty-five years ago today, June 25, 1984, David Overstreet died. Drank, then drove and crashed his Mercedes into a gas pumps in a small East Texas town, creating an explosion that took the life of the Miami Dolphin halfback.
Ethan Skolnick of the Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Sun-Sentinel wrote an excellent piece on Overstreet’s death. Here’s the link: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-david-overstreet-062009,0,6384766.story
Overstreet was a Texas high school legend, a teammate of now-Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith at Big Sandy High School. He came to OU and muscled his way into a crowded Sooner backfield.
Overstreet’s son, David II, played at Missouri earlier this decade, and now Overstreet’s grandson, Quincis Overstreet, is a 16-year-old prospect at Dallas Skyline being recruited by OU. Quincis is the son of Dayetta, Overstreet’s daughter.
It doesn’t seem like 25 years since Overstreet died. Of course, it doesn’t seem like 29 years since Overstreet rushed for 258 yards on 18 carries in that wild 82-42 victory at Colorado. Doesn’t seem like 32 years since Overstreet shared playing time as a freshman with Billy Sims and Elvis Peacock.
But it has been that long. And Skolnick does a nice job of remembering a Sooner great.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
yeah, barry, thank you for the heads up! what a week remembering some influencial people from my youth – michael and farrah, and now a great story about david overstreet. i loved david as a kid and was very sad when we lost him. glad to have thoughts of him terrorizing opposing defenses came back to my mind.
wow that was touching….i know his grandson, he is a wonderful, kind, loving, sweet, person. Amazing atlete with many more talents than football.
I remember watching Overstreet in the OU Texas game one year. It was back when you could buy OU Texas tickets from scalpers for face value. It was an overcast day, maybe even drizzeling. Worst of all, I was in the middle of the end zone in the Texas end! Texas must have scored first because I remember the guy behind me shouting, \OU sucks.\ OU scored soon and my girl friend turned around to the Texas fan and said, \suck that.\ Overstreet was a good one though. He looked like Derby horse… fast and big. Is it too soon to start recruiting David Overstreet III?