Dante Hall

Dante Hall

No. 82
Wide receiver / Return specialist
Personal information
Date of birth: September 20, 1978 (1978-09-20) (age 33)
Place of birth: Lufkin, Texas
Height: 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Weight: 187 lb (85 kg)
Career information
College: Texas A&M
NFL Draft: 2000 / Round: 5 / Pick: 153
Debuted in 2000 for the Kansas City Chiefs
Last played in 2008 for the St. Louis Rams
Career history
Kansas City Chiefs (2000-2006) St. Louis Rams (2007-2008)
Career highlights and awards
2× Pro Bowl selection (2002, 2003) 2× All-Pro selection (2002, 2003) NFL Alumni Special Teams Player of the Year (2003) NFL 2000s All-Decade Team NFL's Third All-Time Kickoff Return Touchdown Leader with (6) tied with Gale Sayers, Mel Gray, Travis Williams, Ollie Matson. NFL's Fifth All-Time Punt Return Touchdown Leader with (6) tied with Deion Sanders, Jermaine Lewis, Darrien Gordon, Billy "White Shoes" Johnson. Ranked 10th on NFL Network's NFL Top 10 Return Aces
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2008
Receptions	162
Receiving Yards	1,747
Total Return Yards	12,397
Total Touchdowns	21
Stats at NFL.com

Damieon Dante Hall (born September 20, 1978) is a former American football Return specialist, and wide receiver in the National Football League. He is considered one of the greatest return specialists in NFL History. Hall is often referred to as "X-Man", "The X-factor", "The Human Torch" and "The Human Joystick."^[1] He was a fifth round draft pick out of Texas A&M University by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2000 NFL Draft. Hall played for the Chiefs for six years before being traded to the St. Louis Rams on April 25, 2007 for the Rams' third and fifth-round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.^[2] Hall is ranked the 10th greatest return specialist in NFL History on NFL Network's NFL Top 10 Return Aces.

College career

Hall played for Texas A&M University as a running back and return specialist.^[3] His 4,707 all-purpose yards place him second in school history behind Darren Lewis.^[4] He majored in Sociology.

Professional career

Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs drafted Dante Hall in the fifth-round of the 2000 NFL Draft. He made his NFL debut on September 24, 2000 as a kick/punt returner. In five games he returned 17 kickoffs for 358 yards and six punts for 37 yards.^[4][5]

He spent the spring of 2001 playing in NFL Europe for the Scottish Claymores as a wide receiver. He led the league with 26 kickoff returns for 635 yards and was second in punt returns with 15 for 177 yards and second in combined net yards with 1,286.^[4]

In 2002, Dante had his first NFL touchdown off a 60-yard reception at the New York Jets on October 6, 2002.^[6] Hall returned 1 kickoff and 2 punts for touchdowns. His two touchdowns off punt returns tied him for first in Chief franchise history. The 2002 NFL season earned Dante his first NFL Pro Bowl, being selected as a kick returner.^[4] Dante Hall became the second player in NFL history to return a kickoff and a punt return for a touchdown in the same game.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, Hall returned a kickoff or a punt for a touchdown four games in a row, which is an NFL record.^[6] The most memorable moment of the season came against the Denver Broncos in which he reversed direction 2 times to evade the entire special teams unit en route to a 93 yard punt return for a touchdown. In the playoffs that year against the Indianapolis Colts, Hall had another kickoff return for a touchdown, giving him 5 for the year, as well as a receiving touchdown. Hall was named to the 2004 Pro Bowl as a kick/punt returner for his second time.^[4]

In 2004, Hall touched the ball eight times for 242 yards vs. the San Diego Chargers on November 28, 2004. His six kickoff returns for 233 yards with a 96-yard touchdown in the game set a career-high. On December 19, 2004, he returned the opening kickoff 97-yards for a touchdown. This touchdown made him the Chiefs' franchise leader in career kickoff return touchdowns and career special teams touchdowns. During the 2004 NFL season, Hall set single-season Chiefs' franchise records with 68 kickoff returns and career-high 1,718 kickoff return yards.^[6]

In 2005, in a memorable game against the Denver Broncos, Hall appeared to be on his way to a kickoff return for a touchdown, but he surprisingly fumbled the ball without being touched by a defensive player. With a touchdown on a kickoff return against the Philadelphia Eagles on October 2, 2005, he tied four players, among them Ollie Matson and Gale Sayers, for the most career kickoff return touchdowns, with six. That record stood until Joshua Cribbs broke it in 2009. Hall's sixth return was also his 10th return touchdown, placing him third in that category behind Brian Mitchell (13) and Eric Metcalf (12).

In 2006, Hall had two kickoffs for 86 yards and three punts for seven yards in Week 12 vs. the Denver Broncos on November 23, 2006. This game made him the sixth player to have 10,000 career kick return yards. Hall played his second postseason game at Indianapolis on January 6, 2007, in a rematch from the 2003 Divisional Playoffs.^[6]

St. Louis Rams

In 2007, Hall was traded along with a third-round draft pick to the St. Louis Rams for their third and fifth-round draft pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. Hall tied Metcalf on September 30, 2007 against the Dallas Cowboys with his 12th return touchdown. On October 7, 2008, Hall injured his ankle vs. the Arizona Cardinals, missing four games. He further aggravated his ankle on October 25, 2008, vs. the Seattle Seahawks and was placed on injured reserve.^[7] He was not resigned to a contract at the end of the year.

Media

Dante Hall is the co-author of Dante Hall: X-Factor, a book that details his journey from Texas A&M running back to one of the best kick returners in the NFL. He is mentioned in Lil Wayne's song "Dipset (Reppin Time)" in the line "I'm like Dante Hall, I just throw up the X." Hall appeared as a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman on October 30, 2003.

Nicknames

Dante Hall has established many nicknames in his career, perhaps the best known being "The X-factor", referring to how whenever he scored a touchdown he would cross his forearms to resemble an "x". Hall's other nicknames include "The Human Joy Stick", referring to the agility he showed during returns, and "The Human Torch", referring to his speed.

In a play on his nickname "The Human Joystick" The Kansas City Star stated in an article "'The Human Joystick' is as outdated as Atari", referring to his less-than-stellar 2006 season, his last with the Kansas City Chiefs.^[8]

Kickoff return touchdown percentage

The following table ranks all National Football League kick returners with at least 4 touchdown returns through the 2008 season by touchdown return percentage:

Top 25 career

Name	TD	Returns	Yards	Average	TD %	Start	End
Gale Sayers	6	91	2,781	30.56	6.59%	1965	1971
Devin Hester	6	94	2,141	22.8	6.38%	2006	present
Travis Williams	6	102	2,801	27.46	5.88%	1967	1971
Bobby Mitchell	5	102	2,690	26.37	4.90%	1958	1968
Ollie Matson	6	143	3,746	26.20	4.20%	1952	1964
Leon Washington	7	174	4,447	25.56	4.02%	2006	present
Jon Vaughn	4	103	2,390	23.20	3.88%	1991	1994
Darrick Vaughn	4	103	2,620	25.44	3.88%	2000	2003
Cecil Turner	4	108	2,616	24.22	3.70%	1968	1973
Justin Miller	5	141	3,745	26.62	3.55%	2005	present
Tony Horne	4	143	3,577	25.01	2.80%	1998	2000
Timmy Brown	5	186	4,781	25.70	2.69%	1959	1968
Abe Woodson	5	193	5,538	28.69	2.59%	1958	1966
Josh Cribbs	8	209	5,507	26.35	2.26%	2005	present
Andre Coleman	4	193	4,446	23.04	2.07%	1994	1998
Ron Brown	4	199	4,493	22.58	2.01%	1984	1990
Terrence McGee	5	207	5,450	26.32	2.41%	2003	present
Tamarick Vanover	4	226	5,422	23.99	1.77%	1995	1999
Mel Gray	6	421	10,250	24.35	1.43%	1986	1997
Dante Hall	6	426	10,136	23.79	1.41%	2000	2008
Michael Bates	5	373	9,110	24.42	1.34%	1993	2003
Allen Rossum	5	506	11,779	23.28	0.99%	1998	present
Brian Mitchell	4	607	14,014	23.09	0.66%	1990	2003

Sources:

• Official NFL.com Kick return All-Time Leaders
• Current Player stats

References

1. ^ Jenkins, Lee (February 1, 2007). "Bears' Hester Emerges From the Tall Grass". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/sports/football/01hester.html?n=Top/News/Sports/Pro%20Football/National%20Football%20League/Chicago%20Bears. Retrieved 2008-06-18. 
2. ^ "Rams deal fifth-round pick for Hall". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2848789. Retrieved 2008-02-03. 
3. ^ "Dante Hall". Pro Football Weekly. Archived from the original on 2002-08-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20020805060645/http://nfldraft.espn.go.com/html/player/player1324.html. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Dante' Hall #82". NFL Players. http://www.nflplayers.com/players/player.aspx?id=28904. Retrieved 2008-02-03. 
5. ^ "Chiefs' Hall comes back strong after miscue". Archived from the original on 2000-08-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20000822075821/http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/chiefs98.pat,sports/3774a8fe.806,.html. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d} "Dante Hall". St. Louis Rams profile. Archived from the original on 2007-12-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20071225093011/http://www.stlouisrams.com/team/players/61298/. Retrieved 2008-02-03. 
7. ^ "Return specialist Hall latest Rams player to land on injured list". ESPN. 2007-12-06. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3144329. Retrieved 2008-02-03. 
8. ^ http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2006/12/08/is-the-human-joystick-as-outdated-as-atari/

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NFL.com • Yahoo! Sports
• Rams Player Bio

Preceded by Sirr Parker

Texas A&M Starting Running Backs 1997–1998

Succeeded by Ja'Mar Toombs

Persondata
Name	Hall, Dante
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 20, 1978
Place of birth	Lufkin, Texas
Date of death
Place of death