Lauren RabainoCal Poly linebacker’s coach and two-time Super Bowl champion Mel Kaufman died Saturday night in his home in Santa Margarita. He was 50.
No cause of death has been announced but an autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.
Kaufman was a linebacker for the Cal Poly Division II national championship team of 1980, but he had his greatest success with the Washington Redskins where he won Super Bowl’s XVII in 1982 and XXII in 1987.
“It’s a tragedy. He was a good man and a compassionate man,” said former Cal Poly head coach Rich Ellerson in a news release. “I pray that the stress of the coaching business wasn’t a contributing factor. He was just a good guy, a passionate guy, a Mustang.”
Ellerson, who left to take the head coaching job at Army in December, originally hired Kaufman to guide his young linebacking core last spring.
Kaufman helped the Mustangs to an 8-3 record, a top three national ranking through most of the season and the school’s first ever home Division I playoff game.
“I hired him because of his past, the number of guys he played with over the years who were passionate about him and the kind of person he was,” Ellerson said. “We took a bit of a chance with him because he hadn’t coached before at this level, but there were a lot of compelling things in his background as a player and scout as well as who he was as a person.”
Former Washington Redskins general manager Bobby Beathard remembered the unheralded linebacker for his work ethic and commitment.
“I said to myself, ‘Wow, this guy is real skinny at 198, maybe 202 pounds. He’s not going to make it at linebacker,'” Beathard said in a news release. “But he worked out real well, so I told him we’re not going to draft you, but we will sign you anyway after the draft.
“I bought Mel a whole bunch of protein powder and peanut butter, and told him to start lifting to gain weight,” Beathard added. “He got up to 218, 220 at the start of the 1981 season and ended up playing at about 215. He just did just an amazing job.”
Former Cal Poly defensive back LeCharls McDaniel, who along with Kaufman signed with the Redskins in 1981, said that the pair were able to push each other towards the success they achieved.
“Mel and I came to Cal Poly together,” McDaniel said in a statement. “Both of us were skinny kids and we both knew we had to work to achieve anything. We went into pro football doing the same thing. Bobby gave us an opportunity. We roomed together. We kept each other going.”
McDaniel will also remember Kaufman for the purity in which he played the game of football.
“There were tough times, but it’s a little easier when doing it with friends,” McDaniel added. “He was a true friend, a great football player. He came into Cal Poly at 170 pounds and played with leverage, played with speed and played with confidence that you can only try to teach kids today.
“He’s one of the great Redskins.”
Kaufman retired from the NFL in 1989 after starting 78 of 91 career games with Washington. He remained with the team as a scouting supervisor until 1998.
Born Feb. 24, 1958, in Los Angeles, Kaufman earned two varsity letters in football at Santa Monica High School, graduating in 1976.
He obtained his bachelor’s degree in social science and industrial relations at Cal Poly in 1984.
After his time in football was over, Kaufman became heavily involved in volunteer work.
He was director of the minority internship program and a training camp director for the Redskins. He also worked with Big Brother’s and Big Sisters of Washington D.C., served on the board of directors for the Northern Virginia chapter of the American Lung Association and was a spokesperson for the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. military, working with and speaking to children and adults.
Funeral arrangements are pending at Chapel of the Roses in Atascadero.