Alonzo Highsmith
N.F.L. running back
Coming out of the University of Miami, Alonzo held out of his first training training
camp and was still unsigned when the 1987 season began. The impasse wore on, made
worse by the players' strike that saw replacement Oilers take the field for three
games. Highsmith wasn't signed and in uniform until the ninth game of the season.
Because he had missed camp, Highsmith saw limited action even though Glanville was
eager to see what his top draft choice could do. He ran the ball 29 times for 106
yards and caught four passes for 55 yards, scoring twice. The Oilers drafted Lorenzo
White the following spring and the Oiler backfield became crowded with White, Highsmith,
Mike Rozier and Allen Pinkett. In addition, the Oilers were opening up the offense,
allowing Warren Moon to throw more often. Alonzo contributed 466 yards rushing and
two touchdowns, along with twelve receptions that year. He was also slowed by knee
injuries. The 1989 campaign would be the best of his career. Highsmith scored six
times, rushed for a team-high 531 yards and caught 18 passes. But 1990 meant changes
and the biggest was the hiring of Jack Pardee and the installation of the run-n-shoot
offense. Unfortunately for Alonzo, there was no fullback in Pardee's offensive scheme,
and thus, with only one back in the formation, a change in the backfield was needed.
Highsmith was not as suitable to this new job as White and Pinkett so he was traded
to the Dallas Cowboys for a second-round pick. Further knee injuries limited him
to nine games with the Cowboys before he was cut and signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He retired after the 1992 season. With his football career over, Highsmith turned
to boxing and entered the ring as a heavyweight, compiling a 27-1-1 record with 17
knockouts. However, he was treated more like a novelty than as a serious boxer and
he put away the gloves in 1999 to work as a scout for the Green Bay Packers, a position
he still holds while trying to master still another sport -- golf. Alonzo wants to
eventually earn his PGA Tour card. And it would be no surprise if Highsmith hits
a golf ball as hard as he used to hit defenders.
| EVENT |
PLACE |
POINTS |
MONEY |
EVENT WINS |
| 1990 Preliminary 1 |
7 |
18 |
$1,800 |
None |
| TOTALS |
18 |
$1,800 |
0 |