BOULDER, Colo. — Rashaan Salaam’s Heisman Trophy will be sold in an online auction next month with a portion of the proceeds benefiting research into a degenerative brain disease found in nearly 200 football players.
SCP Auctions announced that bidding will open Jan. 8 and end Jan. 20. SCP said the former University of Colorado running back sold his trophy in 2013 to a sports memorabilia dealer who resold it to the current owner, Tyler Tysdal, the husband of Colorado’s Own Channel 2 morning anchor Natalie Tysdal. Tyler Tysdal is a longtime sports collector and decided it’s a good time to raise awareness of an issue that needs attention. All of the net proceeds from the sale of the Heisman will be donated to research the brain disease CTE.
The issue of brain trauma is close to the Tysdal family. Both of their daughters have suffered concussions. Salaam killed himself in December 2016 in Boulder, shooting himself near the school where he played from 1992 to 1994, after struggling with depression.
Investigators have said they will never know if he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE because his family didn’t consent to those tests. It’s expected to sell for more than $300,000.