Former St. Louis Cardinals number one draft pick, Luis Sharpe, has died. He was 65.

The Big Red selected Sharpe with the 16th pick in the 1982 NFL draft. The 6-foot-5, 275-pounder was named to three consecutive Pro Bowls from 1987 to 1989 and played 13 seasons in the NFL, all with the Cardinals organization. He also played a season in the USFL with the Memphis Showboats.

Sharpe was born in Havana, Cuba, on June 16, 1960. He and his family fled Cuba for Detroit for a better life when he was six years old.

“We were following the American dream,” Sharpe said in a 1982 interview with the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “My father moved to Detroit and worked in an auto factory.”

At Southwestern High School in Detroit, Sharpe earned All-American honors in sports and academics. He was recruited by over 200 schools and chose UCLA, where he began on the defensive line but soon switched to offense. “It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said.

Sharpe earned All-Pac-10 and All-American honors at UCLA and was too good for the Cardinals to pass on with their first-round pick. He immediately impressed head coach Jim Hanifan.

“Looking at Luis here,” said Hanifan, “I’d say we’ve got an exceptionally talented athlete to put over on that left side, where you’re always facing the screaming meemies.”

Sharpe’s life spun out of control after suffering a career-ending knee injury in 1994. He turned to drugs, was arrested multiple times, and spent time in prison.

“After my injury, I was lost,” he said in an interview with The Monthly Standard in 2019. “I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know what my future held. I went out on the streets, in South Phoenix, doing things that I knew better to do and hanging out with people I shouldn’t be hanging out with.”

Sharpe was released from prison in 2013 and devoted his life to sharing his experience with thousands of people impacted by addiction and substance abuse. He teamed with his daughter, Rebekah, on a podcast called Sharpe Talk, which offered inspirational and transparent dialogue on faith, family, football, and friendship. They were also named ambassadors for Hall of Fame Health, which is affiliated with the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“We are not bad people; drug addicts and alcoholics,” Sharpe said in an interview last November. “We are critically ill, not hopelessly bad. We need rehabilitation. We need counseling. We need therapy. We need education. We need fellowship. There are myriad things that we need in order to become productive, responsible, and law-abiding members of society.”

“I’m doing well,” he said in a 2020 interview with Scott Bordow. “I feel a sense of purpose now. I feel more significant than I ever did when I was playing professional football. My life is better today. I tell people all the time, ‘What I thought was my greatest curse has turned into my greatest blessing.’”

“My faith is what really gives me hope and keeps me going on all levels,” he said. “Really, I’m a different man. My negative sense of self has been replaced by a positive concern for others. I recognize today I have the life I have because I’ve overcome so many obstacles and so many challenges.

“God wanted me to go out and do exactly what I’m doing, to share my life with others, to tell them my fall from grace and say, ‘If I can stand before you today as a productive member of society, so can you.’ ”

Luis Sharpe will be deeply remembered not only for his commanding presence on the football field, but also for his courageous battle off the field—facing addiction, personal challenges, and loss with unwavering determination. In the hearts of family, friends, teammates, and fans, his legacy endures—not just as a gifted athlete, but as a man who, in both triumph and turmoil, inspired forgiveness, hope, and the resilience found in redemption.