Harald Hasselbach (22 September 1967 – 23 November 2023) was a Dutch

gridiron football Gridiron football ( ),"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ...

player who was a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL) and

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 seven seasons in the NFL for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

from 1994 to 2000, winning two

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

s, including a

start Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Track and field#Starts use in race, Starts use in sport race * S ...

Super Bowl XXXIII Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion and defending Super Bowl XXXII champion 1998 Denver Broncos season, Denver Broncos and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion ...

. Previously, he played four seasons for the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

of the CFL, winning the

80th Grey Cup The 80th Grey Cup was the 1992 Canadian Football League championship game played between the Calgary Stampeders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Toronto's SkyDome. The Stampeders had little trouble defeating the Blue Bombers, 24–10. Game summar ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. 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 ...

for the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...

after attending high school near Vancouver. During his youth, he played a variety of sports while his family lived on four different continents. After retiring as a player, he became a high school football coach. He is the only Dutch player to have become a

Super Bowl champion The Super Bowl is the annual American football game that determines the champion of the National Football League (NFL). The game culminates a National Football League regular season, season that begins in the previous calendar year, and is the ...

Early life

Hasselbach was born in Amsterdam on 22 September 1967, to a Dutch father and a Surinamese mother. His father was an agricultural engineer and the family moved frequently; Hasselbach grew up in the Netherlands, Indonesia, Kenya, and Canada. He attended high school in Canada at

South Delta Secondary School South Delta Secondary (SDSS) is a public high school in Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Canada. There are approximately 1,500 students enrolled in each grade 8 through 12 (as of 2019/2020). Graduation rates in the years 2005 to 2010 vary between 9 ...

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

Metro Vancouver The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and Corporation, corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as o ...

. During his youth he practiced various sports, ranging from

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

, to swimming and soccer.

Career

Playing five years of college football at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

and backing up

Dennis Brown Dennis Emmanuel Brown CD (1 February 1957 – 1 July 1999) was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of l ...

and

Steve Emtman Steven Charles Emtman (born April 16, 1970) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Washington and was selected first ov ...

, he only appeared in four plays, including a tackle of

Emmitt Smith Emmitt James Smith III (born May 15, 1969) is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, 13 as a member of the Dallas Cowboys and 2 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals ...

. He talked the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

out of drafting him in the 1990 NFL draft because he had already signed with the

. He then went on to play four seasons in the CFL (two as an all-star). At Calgary,

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line (D ...

coach Tom Higgins helped mold his talent before he engaged in a 14-team bidding war for his services, deciding to sign with the

. From

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

through

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, Hasselbach played for the Broncos, where he tallied 154 tackles, 29 regular season starts and a start in

. He had 17.5 NFL-career

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackle (football move), tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the l ...

s and four forced

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful h ...

s. He never missed a game (regular or playoff) in his seven-year tenure (121 games) in Denver. This total included nine NFL playoff games and starts in all three playoff games when Denver repeated as Super Bowl champions in Super Bowl XXXIII, where he recorded two tackles against

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. He is one of at least ten players to have won a

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

and a Super Bowl. After his career he served as coach at a local high school. In 2016, he was inducted into the British Columbia Football Hall of Fame. He was a

coach at

Regis Jesuit High School Regis Jesuit High School is a private, Catholic, college preparatory high school administered by the Central and Southern Province of the Society of Jesus in Aurora, Colorado. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1877. The high school shares much of ...

at the time of his death.

Personal life

Hasselbach's older brother Ernst-Paul (1965–2008) was a television presenter. Hasselbach had a wife and four children. Hasselbach and his son Terran, who played college football for

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, were in a near-fatal car accident when Terran was a high school freshman. Hasselbach complained of memory and concentration loss in the years before his death. He was diagnosed with cancer in mid-2023. He died of a

mucinous adenocarcinoma A mucinous neoplasm (also called colloid neoplasm) is an abnormal and excessive growth of tissue (neoplasia) with associated mucin (a fluid that sometimes resembles thyroid colloid). It arises from epithelial cells that line certain internal organs ...

on 23 November 2023, at age 56. At the time of his death he was the only Dutch player to have ever won a

References

External links

NFL career highlights
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasselbach, Harald 1967 births 2023 deaths American football defensive linemen Calgary Stampeders players Canadian football defensive linemen High school football coaches in Colorado Denver Broncos players Dutch players of American football Dutch players of Canadian football Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Sportspeople from Amsterdam Washington Huskies football players