The Twitter feed of former Oklahoma running back Marcus Dupree, @SpeedbyDupree, features plenty of status updates of interviews he’s conducting and places he’s speaking. That’s because the former Sooner phenom is making the most of a second chance.
Dupree underwent surgery for prostate cancer in November 2011, almost exactly one year after his name was back in the college football spotlight courtesy of the ESPN “30 for 30″ documentary “The Best That Never Was.”
It’s a fitting title to describe Dupree’s mercurial football career. The Philadelphia, MS, native ran for 1,144 yards and 13 touchdowns as a freshman in 1982, capping the season with a 249-yard performance in the 1983 Fiesta Bowl against Arizona State.
It would be the only full season Dupree would spend in Norman. Transferring to Southern Miss as a sophomore, Dupree never played a down there. He made his much-anticipated pro debut with the USFL’s New Orleans Breakers in 1984, but a knee injury in 1985 would derail his career. He would later spend two seasons with the Los Angeles Rams (1990–1991).
After football, Dupree performed as a professional wrestler, ran a sports bar, worked as a casino greeter and as a truck driver. He was wrestling and doing promotion work for Mid-South Wrestling prior to his cancer diagnosis. Marcus Dupree profile
