Jack Hoffman, the cancer patient who captured the hearts of Nebraska football fans and inspired the nation as a 7-year-old when he ran for a touchdown during the Cornhuskers’ 2013 spring game, has died at the age of 19.
Kylie Dockter, executive director of the Team Jack Foundation, said Hoffman died of brain cancer early Wednesday at his home in Atkinson, Nebraska. Medical tests in October confirmed new and more aggressive tumors had developed.
“Jack passed away after a long battle with brain cancer, a journey that inspired countless lives and left a legacy of hope, strength, and resilience. Jack Hoffman, you will always be our hero,” Team Jack wrote in a social media post Wednesday.
Hoffman initially was diagnosed in 2011, and his parents, Andy and Bri Hoffman, were the driving force behind the Team Jack Foundation, which supports pediatric brain cancer research.
Andy Hoffman was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2020 and died at age 42 on March 1, 2021.
Jack was a passionate Nebraska football fan, and shortly after his diagnosis he struck up a friendship with Huskers running back and future NFL player Rex Burkhead.
On Wednesday, Burkhead tweeted: “Love you buddy. Tell Jesus we say hello.”
The nation was introduced to Jack at Nebraska’s 2013 spring game, after the coaching staff invited him to run a play in the fourth quarter. Wearing a miniature Burkhead uniform, he took a handoff from Taylor Martinez and scooted 69 yards to the end zone.
Players on both sidelines poured onto the field, followed him across the goal line and mobbed him, lifting him on their shoulders to the delight of the crowd of 60,000. ESPN and national news networks showed video of Jack’s TD run for several days, and it received millions of views on YouTube.
Three weeks later Jack, his family and Burkhead visited President Barack Obama for 15 minutes in the Oval Office. Obama presented Jack with a new football and told him he was proud of him.
A few months later, Jack’s touchdown run won ESPN’s 2013 ESPY Award for “Best Moment in Sports.”
In ESPN interviews with Jack’s family in 2020, Jack’s mother said they had hoped to keep the tumor at bay.
“For kids and tumors,” she said, “what [doctors] told us is if you can keep it from growing until they reach like their 20s, a lot of times they just go away.”
Jack went on to play on the line of the Atkinson High School football team. He graduated in May and was a pre-law major at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.
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