The Stanford Cardinal family collectively mourned one of their own this weekend after the news of Zach Hoffpauir, the former two-sport star, passed away on Friday, May 15, 2020.
Hoffpauir was with his father, who confirmed the news to the Arizona Republic, not citing a cause.
He was recently hired as an assistant coach for Northern Colorado as his minor league baseball career was officially behind him. Hoffpauir played two years of minor league baseball after staring for the Cardinal on the football gridiron and baseball diamond.
Northern Colorado head coach Ed McCaffrey expressed his feelings after the news broke.
“I am devastated by the loss of Zach Hoffpauir, a friend to me and my family since his playing days with my son Christian at Stanford,” McCaffrey posted to Instagram on Friday. “He was like a brother to our boys and recently found his calling as our safeties coach at Northern Colorado. He was a young, intelligent coach with limitless potential.”
His son, Christian McCaffrey, Hoffpauir’s dear friend, also responded to the news on Instagram with a lengthy post.
Hoffpauir was remembered and mourned through many other channels following the devastating news.
His father expressed how Zach was excited for his life beyond playing sports.
“He was so excited to get back to Northern Colorado and try to influence lives beyond football,” he said to the Arizona Republic. “He loved his head coach, Ed McCaffrey. Christian McCaffrey was his best friend. He had so much to look forward to.”
The Republic also shared fond memories from Zach’s head coach at Centennial High School, where Hoffpauir had been nominated as the school’s greatest athlete to grace its halls.
“I just don’t have the words to express the loss. Just to so many people, so many people he would have reached and touched in the future. It’s a loss on so many levels.”
Rest in peace, Zach. Forever a Cardinal.
Comments
RIP, Zach - this is very sad
By worldblee on 05.17.20 9:05am
Gutted!! - Prayers to the family
Absolutely devastated when I first saw the news, especially when he seemed to have turned a corner with the northern colorado job. I was fortunate to listen to the jordan simone podcast about zach’s struggles with mental health issues after his playing time and christian reaching out to him in desperate times. I was rooting for the guy when RJ tweeted about his gig with Ed. Just really feel devastated for him and his family.
My memories of zach will always be the passionate and energized guy who flew on the field, a tremendous 2-sport athlete who gave it his all. His highlight goal line stand against ASU in the pac-12 championship game and his one-man open field tacking crew against WSU in 2014 are stuff of legends in cardinal fanhood. May he rest in peace!
By layman on 05.17.20 11:45am