Brad Alan Van Pelt (April 5, 1951 – February 17, 2009) was an American football linebacker who played fourteen seasons in the National Football League. A two-time All-American (1971, 1972) and the 1972 Maxwell Award winner as college football's best player, he was drafted by the New York Giants.
Van Pelt attended Owosso High School which was a member of the Big Nine Conference in Flint, Michigan. In 1969 he was named all-state as a quarterback and first-team all-league in basketball, baseball and two ways in football. The Detroit Tigers and California Angels tried to sign Van Pelt directly out of high school, but he declined.
He played college football at nearby Michigan State University where he was a two time All-American, in 1971 and 1972 and also won the Maxwell Award as the nation's best player, the first time a defensive back won the award. He was also named Chevrolet Defensive Player of the Year and Columbus Touchdown Club Defensive Player of the Year. His career coincided with the last three years of the tenure of legendary Spartans coach Duffy Daugherty.
In his college career, Van Pelt had fourteen interceptions returning two of them for touchdowns. He followed his senior season playing in the East-West Shrine Game, the Hula Bowl, and the College All-Star Game. Van Pelt also played basketball and baseball at MSU, earning a total of seven varsity letters.
As a member of the Giants, Van Pelt was a member of the Crunch Bunch, a team of fierce linebackers composed of Van Pelt, Brian Kelley, Lawrence Taylor, and Harry Carson. Van Pelt wore number 10 with the Giants, his college number, even though the NFL instituted a Jersey numbering system for the 1973 NFL season, which limited linebackers entering the league to numbers 50 through 59. He was allowed to wear 10 because he was the backup kicker in his rookie year.
The Crunch Bunch went to Puebla, Mexico on October 26, 2004, to promote Habitat for Humanity and assist 3,000 volunteers who were building 150 houses. While there, they met and talked with former president Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.
Van Pelt went back to school to complete coursework for his degree in 1998 and in 2000, he was elected to the Sports Hall of Fame at Michigan State University. In 2001, Van Pelt was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in the class with Steve Young. In 2009, Van Pelt was inducted into the East-West Shrine Game Hall of Fame. He participated in the 48th East-West Shrine Game in 1972. The year before his death, he and his fiancee, Deanna, purchased a home in Harrison, Michigan, where his two brothers and mother reside. They spent most of their time there.
On February 17, 2009, Van Pelt was found by his longtime fiancee, slumped in a chair, dead from an apparent heart attack. He was 57 and had no known heart condition, but his father died at an early age from heart problems.
Taken from Wikipedia