Former Indianapolis Colts linebacker Fredd Young, a four-time Pro Bowl selection whose arrival cost the franchise two first-round draft picks, has died. He was 64.
New Mexico State University, Young’s alma mater, announced the death Wednesday. A cause was not immediately released.
Young spent three seasons in Indianapolis from 1988 through 1990 after the Colts traded a pair of first-round choices to the Seattle Seahawks. Team officials at the time saw the deal as a chance to add a proven, physical presence in the middle of the defense.
The trade followed a contract fight in Seattle. Young had been earning $350,000 while new Seahawks linebacker Brian Bosworth signed a 10-year, $11 million contract. Talks stalled, and Seattle sent Young to Indianapolis shortly before the 1988 season.
The Colts put him to work right away. Young started 12 of 15 games in 1988 and finished with 65 tackles. In 1989 he started all 15 games, recording 72 tackles, two sacks and two interceptions.
His time in Indianapolis ended sooner than anyone hoped. Young started 11 games in 1990 before a dislocated hip cut the season short. He announced his retirement the following summer because of an arthritic right hip. He was 29.
For his NFL career, Young played in 101 regular-season games and started 79. He finished with 21 sacks and three interceptions, one of them returned 50 yards for a touchdown.
Seattle selected Young with the 76th overall pick in the 1984 draft out of New Mexico State. He made the Pro Bowl in each of his four seasons with the Seahawks and was named an Associated Press first-team All-Pro in 1987, his last year in Seattle.
As a rookie, Young became the first AFC player to reach the Pro Bowl as a special-teams player who was not a return specialist. He blocked two punts during his Seattle career, tied for second in franchise history.
Young led the Seahawks in tackles in 1985, 1986 and 1987 with 118, 121 and 101. His 1987 season included nine sacks, five forced fumbles and that 50-yard interception return against the Raiders. He finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Seattle later listed him among the top 50 players in franchise history. One of the first-round picks Indianapolis surrendered was later used in a package that helped the Seahawks draft Hall of Fame defensive lineman Cortez Kennedy.
Young was born Frederick Kimball Young on Nov. 14, 1961, in Dallas. He starred in football and basketball at Woodrow Wilson High School before heading to New Mexico State, where he played defensive end and returned punts and kickoffs. He led the Aggies in tackles in 1982 and 1983, finishing with 393 career tackles, still fourth in school history.
NMSU said in its announcement, “His impact on Aggie Athletics, the game of football and the Las Cruces community will long be remembered.”
Young settled in Las Cruces after football. He is survived by his wife, Michelle; their children Jessica, Freddy Jr., Matthew, Monroe, Fenix, Jeremiah and Amirah; and grandchildren.
Colts fans who watched the late-1980s teams remember a linebacker who arrived with All-Pro credentials and left because his body would no longer let him play. The price was steep. The production in blue and white was shorter than the reputation he brought with him. The hitting, those who saw him said, never changed.
