Ronnie Valentin Cruz (born June 11, 1981) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

fullback. He was signed by the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2004. 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 ...

Northern State University Northern State University (NSU) is a public university in Aberdeen, South Dakota, United States. NSU is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents and offers 45 bachelor's degrees, 53 minors, six associate degrees, 16 pre-professional prog ...

. Cruz has also been a member of the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

Early life

Ronnie Cruz was named football

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

and

student-athlete Student athlete (or student–athlete) is a term used principally in universities in the United States and Canada to describe students enrolled at postsecondary educational institutions, principally colleges and universities, but also at sec ...

of the year at Clear Lake High School in

Lakeport, California Lakeport is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, California. The city is northwest of Sacramento. Lakeport is on the western shore of Clear Lake, at an elevation of . The population was 5,026 at the 2020 census, up from 4,753 at th ...

. He ranked second in rushing in the state of California. Ronnie Cruz was once considered a tuba prodigy.

College career

Ronnie Cruz began his collegiate career at Mendocino Community College in

Ukiah, California Ukiah ( ; Pomo: ''Yokáya'', meaning "deep valley" or "south valley") is the county seat and largest city of Mendocino County, California, Mendocino County, in the North Coast (California), North Coast region of California. Ukiah had a populati ...

, where he was an all-conference and all-region honoree. He had 152 carries for 863 yards and 10 scores as a freshman in 14 games played. He finished his sophomore season with 264 attempts for 1,779 rushing yards with 14

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s. He played two years at Northern State in

Aberdeen, South Dakota Aberdeen () is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 28,495. making it the third-most populous city in the state. Aberdeen is home of Northern State University. ...

. As a Junior Cruz led the school with 200 carries for 892 rushing yards and seven touchdowns along with six receptions for 59 yards with one score. As a Senior he played in 11 games, recording 1,476 rushing yards on 240 carries with 18 touchdowns and 33 receptions for 316 yards with one score. Cruz was named to the first-team All-Region and

Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the Upper Midwest of the United States. Nine of ...

teams as a senior. He ranked eighth in scoring and 10th in rushing his senior year.

Career college statistics

Professional career

Kansas City Chiefs

His role with the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

was mostly a backup role at halfback to

Priest Holmes Priest Anthony Holmes (born October 7, 1973) ''www.databasefootball.com.'' Retrieved February 13, 2016. is an American former professional football player who was a running back for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He started h ...

and Larry Johnson, and backup to fullback

Tony Richardson Cecil Antonio Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director, producer and screenwriter, whose career spanned five decades. He was identified with the "angry young men" group of British directors and play ...

. Prior to the 2006 season, Richardson signed with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

, giving the

starting 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 * Starts use in sport race * Standing start, and rolling start, i ...

fullback role to Cruz. In week six, Cruz suffered a knee injury that benched him for the entire 2006 season. The Chiefs released Cruz at the beginning of the 2007 season.

Dallas Cowboys

On January 18, 2008, Cruz signed with the

. He quickly worked his way to second on the depth chart as a fullback, but a shoulder injury in a preseason game ended his season. He was later released by the Cowboys with an injury settlement.

Florida Tuskers

Cruz was drafted by the

Florida Tuskers Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

on the UFL Premiere Season Draft in 2009 and signed with the team on August 17.

Personal life

Cruz is now a bail bondsman and fugitive recovery agent. He now owns and operates Cruz Out of Jail Bail Bonds with two locations: one office in

Sacramento, CA Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

and the other in Lakeport, CA.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Ronnie 1981 births Living people American football fullbacks Kansas City Chiefs players Dallas Cowboys players Florida Tuskers players Northern State Wolves football players People from Lakeport, California Players of American football from California Sportspeople from Lake County, California