Former Stanford Football, Baseball Player Zach Hoffpauir Dies at Age 26

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Zach Hoffpauir, a former two-sport athlete at Stanford University, died Thursday at the age of 26. 

Doug Hoffpauir, Zach's father, told Richard Obert of the Arizona Republic in a text message about his son's death. 

No cause of death was given. 

Hoffpauir played baseball for the Cardinal from 2012-15 until he was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He also played football from 2012-15 and again in 2016 and was an honorable mention on the All-Pac-12 team as a junior in 2014. 

Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey, who played with Hoffpauir in college, wrote a message on Instagram about his former teammate:

"Yesterday Heaven gained an angel, and I lost one of my best friends in the world. Zach showed me the way when I got to college. He did things the right way. He taught me how to enjoy life. He taught me how to not give a f--k about what people think about me, and to do it my way. He never lost an argument, or a dance battle, and he said what he meant and meant what he said. I never doubted for a second whether or not he had my back. He was a true friend and a great brother to anyone he knew. He was a walking example of how to care for people, a rare soul."

Hoffpauir was recently hired to be a defensive backs coach at Northern Colorado for head coach Ed McCaffrey, Christian's father.

An Arizona native, Hoffpauir played safety and outfield at Stanford.