Damien Nash Damien Darnell Nash ( April 14 , 1982 – February 24 , 2007 ) was an American football player who was a running back for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He died after the 2006 - 2007 season , his only season with the Broncos . High school career . Nash attended St . Louis Riverview Gardens High School for the first three years of his education . He followed his coach , Darren Sunkett , to East Saint Louis High School for his senior year . He finished his career with 5 , 395 rushing yards and 85 rushing touchdown s as well as 1 , 160 passing yards and 10 passing touchdowns . He was a track star in high school and ran the 100 meter dash in 10 . 3 seconds . College career . Damien was recruited for football by the University of Missouri , but attended Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville , Kansas before transferring to the University of Missouri . He finished his college career with 253 rushing attempts for 1 , 254 yards ( 5 . 0 yards per rushing attempt average ) with 12 rushing touchdowns as well as 36 receptions for 282 yards ( 7 . 8 yards per reception average ) with two receiving touchdowns ) . Professional career . Nash was drafted with the fifth pick of the 5th round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans . He was released after one season with the Titans and was signed by the Denver Broncos . After spending the first portion of the season on the Broncos practice squad , he was given a roster spot as the third - string running back behind Tatum Bell and Mike Bell . Nash appeared in six NFL games , three with the Titans and three with the Broncos . He had 24 carries for 98 yards ( 4 . 1 yards per rushing attempt average ) and no touchdowns as well as seven receptions for 55 yards ( 7 . 9 yards per reception average ) and no touchdowns . His best performance came during the November 19 , 2006 game against the San Diego Chargers , with ten carries for fifty - two yards and three receptions for thirty - six yards . He did not appear in the Broncos ' final five games of the 2006 season . However , Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said about Nash " " We never had a guy play for one year , as Damien did , and influence so many people " . " Death . Nash collapsed suddenly following a celebrity charity basketball game at Riverview Gardens High School on February 23 , 2007 . He was found unresponsive at a residence in suburban St . Louis and was later pronounced dead . The charity event was a fundraiser to benefit the Darris Nash Find A Heart Foundation , a charity which raises funds for heart transplant research . Nash had created the charity in honor of his older brother , Darris , a recent heart transplant recipient . Sergeant Ed Douglas of the Ferguson , Missouri , police department said in a telephone interview that Nash was transported by ambulance to Christian Hospital Northeast . Douglas said the case was still under investigation . Nash was pronounced dead at 6 : 41 p . m . MST . An autopsy confirmed that no drugs or unnatural substances were present in Nash ' s body at the time of death . While being a natural death of cardiac origin , the exact cause of death remains undetermined . He is survived by his wife , Judy Jae ' Nash and daughter Phaith Nash . Nash was the second Broncos player to die in 2007 ; cornerback Darrent Williams was shot to death while riding in a limousine after leaving a Denver nightclub early on the morning of January 1 , 2007 .