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Nolan Cromwell

Nolan Neil Cromwell (born January 30, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was a safety for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks, where he earned All-American honors. Cromwell played for the Rams from 1977 through 1987 and was named to the Pro Bowl in four consecutive years, 1980 through 1983. He played on the Rams' 1979–1980 Super Bowl XIV team. He became a coach and was the Rams' wide receivers coach from 2010 to 2011.

Cromwell was born in Smith Center, Kansas. He eventually played most of his high school sports career in the town of Ransom, Kansas. He attended Logan High School as a freshman, where he helped the basketball team win a state championship. After his family moved to Ransom, Cromwell earned the nickname the "Ransom Rambler." While attending Ransom High School Cromwell was a standout in football, basketball and track. He was a national AAU junior champion in the decathlon, a three-time state champion in track and earned consensus All-State honors in football and basketball. He was named the Wichita Eagle's high school football player of the decade for the 1970s.

Cromwell was an honorable mention All-America quarterback for the University of Kansas Jayhawks under coach Bud Moore. He started at quarterback for two seasons, throwing 92 passes and completing 33 for 606 yards. He is one of KU's ten 1,000-yard rushers in school history.

As a freshman in 1973 under Coach Don Fambrough, he was the starting free safety in the Liberty Bowl. After being a two-year starter and All Big 8 performer at safety, he made the move to quarterback where he broke several KU, Big Eight and NCAA records for rushing by a quarterback. In 1975, Cromwell rushed 294 and 187 yards in the Oregon State and Wisconsin games, respectively, and finished the season with 1,124 rushing yards. He also scored a touchdown in a 23–3 win over the University of Oklahoma, which was ranked #1 at the time and the defending national champions. In 1975, he was named Big 8 Offensive Player of the Year by the AP. Despite playing in just 18 games on offense at Kansas (he suffered a season-ending knee injury in his senior year when the Jayhawks were 5-1 and ranked in the top 10), he is 13th on the school's all-time rushing charts and is the top rushing quarterback. He holds the Kansas record for most rushes (24) by a Kansas player in a Bowl game (set vs. Pittsburgh in the 1975 Sun Bowl).

Cromwell also earned All-America honors in the 600-yard run and the 440 intermediate hurdles while setting KU records in the 600-meter and 400-meter yard runs, the intermediate hurdles (a record he still holds at 49:47) and the decathlon and qualified for the US Olympic trials in the low hurdles.

He was part of the Big-8 champion mile relay team in 1975 and 1976 and was the Big-8 440-yd/400-meter hurdle champ in both 1975 and 1976. With Cromwell's contributions the 1975 Jayhawk track team finished ranked second in the NCAA in outdoor track and fifth in indoor track while capturing both titles for the Big-8 Conference. In 1976 they repeated as Big-8 indoor champs and were second in outdoor while finishing tied for 9th in the NCAA in indoor competition and tied for 20th in outdoor competition. In 1977, he was voted Big Eight Athlete of the Year.

Cromwell was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Cromwell was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams as a defensive back in the second round, with the 32nd pick, in 1977 and played his entire 11-year career in Los Angeles. He was the Rams' nickelback in 1977 and 1978 and a standout on special teams; running a fake field goal as a holder was Cromwell's specialty. In 1979, he won the starting free safety position and was named second-team All-NFC.

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