Arnold Lee Mickens Jr. (October 12, 1972 – January 18, 2022) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

who played one season with the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

and

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

Early life

Arnold Lee Mickens Jr. was born on October 12, 1972, in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. He attended Broad Ripple High School in Indianapolis. He was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

and running back on the football team at Broad Ripple High, earning all-state honors.

College career

Mickens was a member of the

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the demonym for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

of the

from 1991 to 1993 and a two-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

from 1992 to 1993. He

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

the 1991 season, and played several positions on the

scout team The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of ...

. He was converted to linebacker full-time in 1992 and started one game that year, recording 34 tackles and one sack. He garnered

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

all-academic team recognition in 1992. He played in seven games in 1993, posting four tackles. Mickens then transferred to play for the

Butler Bulldogs The Butler Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent Butler University, located in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Bulldogs participate in 20 NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports. After leaving the Horizon League following the 2011–12 seaso ...

, where he was a two-year letterman at running back from 1994 to 1995. He rushed for an

NCAA Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Sponsored by the National Collegiate A ...

record 2,255 yards in 1994. He rushed for over 200 yards in an NCAA Division I-AA record eight straight games in 1994 as well. Mickens also set NCA Division I-AA records in single-game rushing attempts with 56, most consecutive rushing attempts by the same player with 26, and career rushing yards per game with 190.7. He majored in public and corporate communications at Butler. He was inducted into Butler's athletics hall of fame in 2009. He was a member of

Phi Beta Sigma Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1914. The fraternity's founders, A. Langston Taylor, Leonard F. Morse, and Charles I. Brown, wanted to ...

fraternity.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

1996 NFL draft The 1996 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The NFL draft, draft was held April 20–21, 1996 NFL seas ...

, Mickens signed with the

on April 26. He was released on August 28, signed to the team's practice squad on September 10, released again on September 23, and signed to the practice squad again on October 15. He was promoted to the active roster on October 18 and played in three games (primarily on special teams) for the Colts before being released on November 12. Mickens was signed to the practice squad the next day. He signed a futures contract with the Colts on January 6, 1997. He was released on July 18, 1997, after failing a physical. He was later waived on March 11, 1998.

Personal life

Mickens later worked as a counselor in the Indianapolis Public Schools system. He died on January 18, 2022, in Indianapolis at the age of 49.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mickens, Arnold 1972 births 2022 deaths Players of American football from Indianapolis American football running backs American football linebackers Indiana Hoosiers football players Butler Bulldogs football players Indianapolis Colts players 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen