Jack Hoffman, a fan of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football team who warmed the hearts of millions after he ran for a touchdown in the team’s 2013 spring game, has died at the age of 19 after a multi-year battle with brain cancer.
The executive director of the ‘Team Jack Foundation’ said that he passed away after his battle on Wednesday at his home in Atkinson, Nebraska. Medical tests in October found that new and more aggressive brain tumors had developed in his body.
Hoffman was initially diagnosed with brain cancer in 2011 – leading to the creation of the foundation which supports pediatric brain cancer research.
Jack’s father, Andy Hoffman, was himself diagnosed with brain cancer in 2020 and died in 2021 at the age of 42.
Jack’s passion for the Cornhuskers football team led to a friendship with then-Huskers running back and future Super Bowl champion Rex Burkhead.
That led to Hoffman being invited to the team’s spring game in Lincoln in 2013. The coaching staff invited him to run a play in the fourth quarter. Jack took a handoff from then-quarterback Taylor Martinez and marched 69-yards down the field toward the end zone.
Jack Hoffman, who was diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer in 2011, died at the age of 19
Hoffman received worldwide fame for his run during Nebraska’s spring football game in 2013
Hoffman’s run led to players from both sidelines pouring out onto the field, mobbing him, and lifting him up into the air as thousands in the stands of Memorial Stadium applauded him.
The run made national headlines for days and views of the video shot into the millions – currently sitting at 8.9million at the time of publishing.
Hoffman, Burkhead, and his family later visited President Barack Obama in the Oval Office weeks after the run took place.
That year, Hoffman also won the 2013 ESPY Award for ‘Best Moment in Sports’.
According to the Associated Press, Jack played on the line of the Atkinson High School football team. He then went on to the University of Nebraska at Kearney to study pre-law.
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