Napoleon Kaufman: Difference between revisions

Kaufman was born in [[Kansas City, Missouri]] and grew up in [[Lompoc, California]], 55 miles west-northwest of [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]]. At [[Lompoc High School]] he was one of the greatest high school running backs in California prep history. As a 135-pound sophomore in 1988, he rushed for 1,008 yards in leading Lompoc to the Southern Section divisional semifinals. As a junior in 1989, he had an even better season. Kaufman was named to the Southern Section All-CIF and All-State first-team<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ruthemeyer |first=Dan |date=December 27, 1990 |title=Kaufman scores award |pages=B-1 |work=San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune}}</ref>, compiling 2,954 all purpose yards and 39 touchdowns, averaging a remarkable 70 yards on kickoff returns. As a senior in 1990, at 5-9, 170, with 4.3 speed in 40 yards, he was named the Cal Hi Sports' California high school football player of the year. Despite injuries, Kaufman rushed for 1,960 yards and 28 touchdowns leading his team to a 13-1 record and a CIF championship<ref>{{Cite news |last=Neumann |first=Thomas |date=December 23, 2015 |title=Where are they now? Oakland Raiders running back Napoleon Kaufman |work=ESPN}}</ref> won at then-[[Alex G. Spanos Stadium|Mustang Stadium]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bailey |first=Joe |date=May 17, 2019 |title=From the Vault: Recounting Napoleon Kaufman's days in Lompoc |work=Lompoc Record}}</ref>. He was also named to the ''[[USA Today All-USA high school football team (1990–1999)|USA Today]]'' and ''Parade Magazine'' first-team All-American teams. In his high school career, he rushed for 5,151 yards and 86 TDs. Kaufman chose the [[University of Washington]] over [[University of Southern California|USC]], [[University of Colorado|Colorado]], and [[University of Arizona|Arizona]].

Kaufman was also an exceptional [[track and field|track]] athlete. As a junior, Kaufman's personal best in the 100 meters was 10.39 and he was the [[CIF California State Meet|CIF California State Champion]] in both 100 (10.57) and 200 meters (21.15).<ref>{{Cite news |last=White |first=Lonnie |date=November 1, 1990 |title=Kaufman Is the Talk of Lompoc |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> He also was an accomplished long jumper with a personal best of over 24 feet.

In 1991, as a true freshman at Washington, Kaufman returned kicks for the Huskies during the year the team won the national championship. Among his notable collegiate performances was the 1994 "[[Washington Huskies football#The .27Whammy in Miami.27|Whammy In Miami]]" game between the Huskies and the [[University of Miami]] at the [[Miami Orange Bowl|Orange Bowl]], where the Huskies ended Miami's 58-game home winning streak, which dated back to 1985. Kaufman was Washington's all-time leader in rushing yards for 23 years (4,106)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/650168-the-top-25-rbs-in-pac-10-history#/articles/650168-the-top-25-rbs-in-pac-10-history/page/16 |title=LaMichael James and the Top 25 RBs in Pac-10 History |publisher=[[bleacherreport.com]] |author=Thad Novak |date=March 30, 2011 |access-date=January 12, 2013}}</ref> and 200-yard games (4), third in rushing touchdowns (34), and tied with [[Chris Polk]] for most rushes for 50+ yards (6). In a game against [[UCLA]] in 1994 Kaufman set the school's record for longest non-scoring rush with 79 yards.<ref>[http://www.gohuskies.com/fls/30200/old_site/pdf/m-footbl/2012-13/misc_non_event/FB_Record_Book.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=30200 2012 Washington Football Information Guide & Reference Book.]</ref> Along with Polk and [[Myles Gaskin]], he is one of only three Washington running backs to rush for 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons (1992-94: 1,045, 1,299, and 1,390). He was named to the All-Pac-10 team in 1992, 1993, and 1994. In 1994, he was a second-team All-American and is a member of the University of Washington Hall of Fame.

On October 19, 1997, in Week 8 of the 1997 season, Kaufman rushed for 227 yards, leading the Raiders to an upset of the undefeated [[Denver Broncos]] (the eventual [[Super Bowl]] champions that year) and setting the franchise mark for rushing yards in a single game. Kaufman broke the record of 221, set by [[Bo Jackson]] in his famous [[Monday Night Football]] performance against the [[Seattle Seahawks]] on November 30, 1987. Kaufman's record stood for 25 years, until broken by the Raiders' [[Josh Jacobs]] on November 27, 2022.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Alvarado |first=Jairo |date=November 28, 2022 |title=Las Vegas Raiders RB Josh Jacobs Breaks Franchise Records |work=Sports Illustrated}}</ref>

During the latter part of his playing career, Kaufman was the Raiders' chaplain, and [[Baptism|baptized]] several teammates in the whirlpool at the team's practice facility.<ref name=WATN>{{cite web|url=http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14421245/where-now-washington-huskies-oakland-raiders-running-back-napoleon-kaufman |title=Where are they now? Oakland Raiders running back Napoleon Kaufman |first=Thomas |last=Neumann |work=[[ESPN.com]] |date=December 23, 2015 |access-date=December 23, 2015}}</ref> He retired abruptly at the end of the [[2000 NFL season]]<ref name="florio"/> to pursue a career as a [[Christianity|Christian]] [[religious minister|minister]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Neil |first=Danny |date=July 16, 2011 |title=Napoleon Kaufman finds faith after football |work=Seattle Times}}</ref> Today he is the senior [[pastor]] at The Well Christian Community Church in [[Livermore, California]], a church he founded with about 15 families in 2003; as of 2018 the church has over 1,000 regular worshipers. His wife also serves as a pastor, two other former Raiders serve in leadership roles, and [[Pro Football Hall of Fame|Hall of Famer]] [[Rod Woodson]] is a member.<ref name="WATN" /> He has three sons and one daughter and has been married since September 1996. He also coached in the Pleasanton Junior Football League where his teams went undefeated four years in a row. As of December 2013, Kaufman is the head football coach at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland where all three of his sons have played. Kaufman's Bishop O'Dowd team won the [[California Interscholastic Federation|CIF]]-State Division 5-AA Championship in December 2016. He also returned as the Raiders team chaplain in 2012 and served in that role until [[Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas|the team relocated to Las Vegas in 2020]].