Derrell Robertson (September 22, 1967 – December 5, 1994) was an American college football player from Tyler, Texas who played for

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

in 1988 and 1989. After college, Robertson signed with the Las Vegas Posse of the Canadian Football League in 1994. Robertson was killed in a car crash in December 1994 but was still drafted by the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

in a dispersal draft after the Posse folded.

Career

After playing at Mississippi State, Robertson was signed by the Posse on April 7, 1994. However, he was killed in a car crash on December 5, 1994, about a month after the season ended. After the end of the 1994 Canadian Football League season, the Posse folded, and its players were made available to the other CFL teams through a dispersal draft in April 1995. A list of potential draftees, including Robertson, was distributed by the league to the teams. With their fourth round pick, the Ottawa Rough Riders selected Robertson. Rough Riders football operations head Garney Henley had previously consulted with the former Posse coach, Ron Meyer and had also spoken with offensive coordinator

Ron Smeltzer Ron Smeltzer is a retired American and Canadian football coach who served as the head coach of the Ottawa Rough Riders from 1992 to 1993. Early life Smeltzer was born on October 29, 1941 in York, Pennsylvania. When he was 17 he joined the United ...

. Both of them spoke well of Robertson, and were apparently unaware of his death, as they did not mention it. (pay for article) According to Ottawa coach

Jim Gilstrap James Earl Gilstrap (born November 10, 1946)''U.S. Public Records Index'' Vol 1 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010. is an American singer, considered one of the most prolific session musicians in the industry. He is best known for ...

, the league and the team did not know about Robertson's death, until they tried and failed to find him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Derrell 1967 births 1994 deaths Sportspeople from Tyler, Texas Players of American football from Texas American football defensive ends Canadian football defensive backs Mississippi State Bulldogs football players Las Vegas Posse players Road incident deaths in Texas