Lorenzo Hampton


Lorenzo Timothy Hampton is an American former college and professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League for five seasons during the 1980s. Hampton played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally for the Miami Dolphins of the NFL.

Early years

Hampton was born in Lake Wales, Florida in 1962. He attended Lake Wales High School, and he played high school football for the Lake Wales Highlanders.

College career

Hampton accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Charley Pell and coach Galen Hall's Florida Gators football teams from 1981 to 1984. Hampton shared the Gators' backfield with fellow running backs John L. Williams and Neal Anderson from 1982 to 1984, and he was often used as a blocking back when Williams and Anderson were the ball carriers. Memorably, he ran for 138 yards against the Florida State Seminoles in 1982. In his four seasons as a Gator, he compiled 1,993 rushing and 655 receiving yards.

Professional career

The Miami Dolphins chose Hampton in the first round in the 1985 NFL Draft, and he played for coach Don Shula's Dolphins for five years from to. Hampton started in thirty-three of the seventy games in which he played, and finished his career with 500 carries for 1,949 rushing yards and twenty-two touchdowns, 123 receptions for 954 receiving yards and six touchdowns, and ninety-six kickoff returns for 2,025 yards.

Life after the NFL

Hampton's charitable foundation, Lemon-Aid Makers, runs a series of South Florida summer football camps in for inner-city elementary and middle school boys ages 7 to 14.
As of 2010, Hampton has been married to his wife Marcia for nineteen years. They have two children: a daughter, Loren, and a son, Lorenzo, Jr.