Harald Hasselbach obit

Cancer Claims Hasselbach, Little-Used Husky Turned NFL Starter

The former UW defensive tackle thrived in 11 pro football seasons. 

He was not on the list.

Harald Hasselbach, who became one of the most unusual University of Washington football players — going from a near non-existent Husky to a long and fruitful NFL career that included a pair of Super Bowl victories — has died from cancer, his family revealed on Thursday.

For six months, Hasselbach battled metastatic mucinous adenocarcinoma, a colorectal cancer, while living in the Denver suburbs. He was 56.

Two years ago, this Dutch-born man, by way of Africa, South America, Indonesia, Europe and Canada (his father was a research scientist), shared in an interview how in five UW seasons in 1985-89 he drew just four game snaps, using one of them to tackle Florida running back Emmitt Smith in the Freedom Bowl.

An extremely raw talent who simply needed time to evolve into an accomplished defensive tackle, the 6-foot-7, 270-pound Hasselbach spent 11 very active seasons with the CFL's Calgary Stampeders and the NFL's Denver Broncos.

"I looked at it as a growing experience," he said. "I needed to be humbled in my time at Washington in order to come back and rise to the surface."

Hasselbach came to the UW and legendary coach Don James' vaunted football program from Tsawwassen, British Columbia, some 215 miles away and south of Vancouver.

He found himself playing behind Dennis Brown and Steve Emtman, two of the greatest Husky defensive tackles in program history. Ironically, those two would be brought to Denver separately for free-agent tryouts and to try and wrestle Hasselbach's NFL job from him to no avail.

Hasselbach proved to be a late bloomer to the game when he reported to the Calgary Stampeders in 1990 as a rookie and a fifth-round draft pick, and he became a different player.

"Really my college years were in the CFL," he said. "I had the right kind of coaching, but I also had a different attitude."

Hasselbach turned four seasons back in Canada into a springboard to the NFL. He became a two-time CFL all-star, which activated an escape clause in his Calgary contract, enabling him to change leagues.

Stampeders defensive-line coach Tom Higgins, later a CFL head coach for three league franchises and a general manager, took this former Husky and turned him into a finished product.

Hasselbach fielded offers from 14 American franchises and he went to the highest bidder — the Denver Broncos. It was a wise choice, bringing him a pair of victorious Super Bowl appearances in consecutive years, including a starting assignment in the second one.

He played most of a 31-24 victory over the Green Bay Packers as a reserve at Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego. Twelve months later, he opened a 34-19 triumph over the Atlanta Falcons in Miami, chalking up a a pair of tackles..

Ask this unconventional one for a Super Bowl highlight, and you get an unconventional answer.

"I remember walking by [actress] Bo Derek, who I was infatuated with," he said of the 1999 game. "I saw the rock band KISS, in their full makeup."

He also ranked his pair of Super Bowl victories no higher than winning the CFL's 1992 Grey Cup, a 24-10 decision over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

"The intimacy and how tight you were with your buddies was just as memorable to go to the Grey Cup and win as it was to go to two Super Bowls," he said, referencing the CFL's smaller 37-man roster. "It's much more of a business when you go to the NFL, which is understandable."

Hasselbach is believed to be one of at last 10 football players who shared in both Grey Cup and Super Bowl victories.

He played for the Broncos from 1994-2000. He started 29 regular-season games. He piled up 154 tackles, including 14 sacks. He tackled Emmitt Smith multiple times.

Whereas at the UW he could barely get into a game, he prided himself for never missing an outing in 11 pro seasons. He played hurt. He got his eye gauged. He played on.

Along the way, he encountered Randy Hart, his Husky defensive-line coach. At the Broncos facilities, they watched game film together. Hart later tried to recruit Hasselbach's son Terran to Stanford, but the youngster ended up at Colorado.

Hart half-heartedly questioned his own coaching ability for not pulling all of this prodigious talent out of this big guy at the UW.

"I didn't fault him," Hasselbach said. "I blamed nobody except myself for my time at Washington. It was a dark spot for me."

Yet all was not doom and gloom for him with the Huskies. With his NFL career winding down, he came to Seattle to play the Seahawks with the Kingdome unavailable.

He played at Husky Stadium and shared in a 38-31 Broncos victory. The rewards were many for him that day.

"I was in the visitor's locker room," Hasselbach said. "The equipment man gave me my old [Husky] helmet, which was pretty cool."