WILMINGTON, Del. -- Nate Beasley, who starred at running back for the University of Delaware football team during the mid-1970’s and earned All-American honors as a junior in 1974, passed away at his home on Thursday, March 11.

Beasley, who had suffered from heart failure during the last several years, was 56. Funeral arrangements were pending as of Friday.

He was inducted into the Delaware Afro American Sports of Hall of Fame last April and just this past September served as one of UD’s honorary captain for the historic first-ever regular season meeting in football between the University of Delaware and Delaware State on Sept. 19 at Delaware Stadium.

A native of Dover, Del., Beasley starred at Dover Air Force Base High School as an All-State football and basketball player before beginning his college football career at Delaware State. However, he left that program after one season and transferred to the University of Delaware where he starred in the backfield under head coach Tubby Raymond on some of the greatest Blue Hen squads ever assembled.

“The kid was a remarkable gentleman and a fine football player,” Raymond told the Wilmington News Journal in an article Thursday. “He was classy in every way and everybody loved him.”

He earned three letters as a 6-foot-3, 212 lb. fullback in 1973-75 and ended his career with 2,697 total rushing yards, a mark that ranked No. 2 at the time of his graduation and still ranks No. 5 all-time at Delaware. He averaged 73.9 yards rushing per game during his career, posted 13 career games with 100 or more yards rushing, and scored 20 touchdowns.

He led Delaware teams to a three-year mark of 28-9 that included an NCAA Division II national runner-up finish in 1974, Lambert Cup Eastern titles in 1973 and 1974, and an ECAC Team of the Year citation in 1974. The 1974 national runner-up team finished with an overall record of 12-2.

A two-time All-East selection, Beasley earned third team All-American honors by the Associated Press in 1974 when he set the school record for rushing yards in a season with 1,397. He also ran for 1,077 yards as a senior in 1975 and remains one of only four players in school history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season more than once.

A 1976 Delaware graduate, he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the 1976 NFL draft but suffered a neck injury that ended his career.

Beasley went on to coach 13-15 year olds in the Capitol Trail Football League in New Caste County for five years, sending many on to successful college careers, and later was instrumental in establishing a girls basketball recreation league in Wilmington. For 10 years, he was a member of IAABO Board 11 of basketball officials and officiated high school and recreation league basketball games in Delaware and Maryland.

He had worked as a program manager at Independent Living Center before stepping down for health reasons.