Ramsey Dardar

Dardar grew up on a farm in the small town of Cecilia, Louisiana, the youngest of the four children in his family. As a child, he spent much of his time fishing and riding horses. He attended Cecilia High School, where he played football and once threw a shot put 59 feet, setting a state record. Heavily recruited by colleges as a football player, Dardar was thinking of attending the University of Houston or the University of Oklahoma, but Charlie Pevey, the offensive coordinator under LSU coach Charles McClendon, convinced him to come to LSU.[1]

Dardar enrolled at LSU in 1979, but a knee injury slowed him down in his freshman year. He began the 1980 season as a backup, but he started on September 16 against Kansas State and recorded seven tackles, a blocked field goal, and an important fourth-down quarterback sack at the goalline. In 1981, when he recorded 77 tackles (14 tackles for loss), recovered four fumbles, and blocked two field goal attempts.[1] In 1982, Dardar was named a First Team All-SEC nose guard by both the Associated Press and United Press International.[2] He had one of his best games that year against the University of Alabama; their victory that day was the team's first over Alabama in 12 seasons.[1]

After his time at LSU, Dardar was ranked in the top five in career sacks (15) in LSU history.[1] He was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the third round (71st overall) of the 1983 NFL Draft,[3] and he agreed to a series of one-year contracts with the team in late June.[4]

Soon after arriving at training camp for the Cardinals, Dardar sustained a knee injury that caused him to miss most of the camp.[5] The Cardinals placed Dardar on injured reserve just prior to the 1983 season.[6] Dardar played in sixteen games for St. Louis in the 1984 NFL season.[3] He was waived by St. Louis in early September 1985.[7]

Dardar was released by the New York Giants before the 1986 season.[8] In May 1987, Dardar was signed by the Houston Oilers.[9] He was placed on injured reserve before the start of the season.[10] He was waived by Houston that October.[11]

While in the NFL, Dardar became addicted to cocaine. He said that people wanted to use drugs with him because of his fame, so he never had to pay for them. He admitted that drugs had made him want to kill himself.[12]

In October 1990, Dardar pleaded guilty to three burglary charges and was sentenced to five years in prison, with all but 18 months suspended.[13] During the 1990 legal proceedings, his defense attorney said that Dardar had an IQ of 71 and that he had scored a 3 on the ACT, a college admissions test on which a 36 is the maximum score. There were no minimum college entrance requirements for athletes when Dardar was admitted to LSU. "I was hooked on cocaine and I had a hard time dealing with myself when my career was over. I was just hooked so hard on drugs," Dardar said.[14]

In May 1992, Dardar was sentenced to six years in prison after a guilty plea to charges of simple burglary and possession of stolen goods.[15] Dardar was released from prison in March 1997 and was arrested again for burglary that November.[16] He entered into a plea agreement in June 1998 and was expected to be sentenced to a 32-year prison term.[17] He was paroled in the fall of 2017.[1]

Dardar is married to Lorraine. His two-year-old son, Ramsey Dardar, Jr., died after being struck by a vehicle in a parking lot in 1987.[1] He is the uncle of Reggie Dardar, a former track and field athlete at LSU.[18]