Sean Tufts

Sean Tufts

Career information
Position(s)	Linebacker
US college	Colorado
NFL draft	2004 / round: 6 / Pick 196
Career stats
Playing stats at CBS.com

Sean Ripmaster-Tufts (born March 26, 1982 in Aurora, Colorado) is a former American football linebacker in the NFL for the Carolina Panthers.

University of Colorado Football 2000-2003

At the University of Colorado Sean Tufts was the starting middle linebacker from 2001-2003. Including the 2001 Big XII Championship season. His senior year Tufts was voted Captain and was placed on the Butkus watch list. He averaged 8 tackles per game and finished the 2003 season with 95 tackles. (3) Despite a disappointing team record, Sean was drafted in the 6th Round of the NFL draft.

• Tufts v. UCLA 2003
  Tufts v. UCLA 2003

Carolina Panthers Football 2004-2006

Tufts was the 196th pick in the 2004 NFL draft. He was used sparingly in 2004, playing in the season's final three games. In 2005, he backed up Pro-bowler Dan Morgan and was a key contributor on special teams. The Panthers reached the playoffs as the NFC Wildcard and defeated the New York Giants 23-0, and the Chicago Bears 29-21 before losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game. Knee injuries forced Tufts to the sidelines for the 2006 season. In his career Tufts played in 18 games for the Panthers and totaled 16 career tackles, with one recovered fumble (9).

• Tufts v. Tampa Bay 2005
  Tufts v. Tampa Bay 2005

Professional

After retiring from the NFL, Sean returned to the University of Colorado to pursue his MBA. At the Leeds School of Business Sean is focusing on Energy and Finance, and was voted class president (1) and is the Director of the Net Impact Case Competition (11). While pursuing his MBA Sean joined the Ralphie Handlers, responsible for the #1 mascot in college football (10). Sean was the first openly gay former CU football player to run with Ralphie. (1) The Ralphie team runs a live American bison before CU Football games. Sean works in the Wind Energy Field as a Development Manager with RES Americas, located in Broomfield, CO (1).

Personal

On June 26, 2010 Sean married long time girlfriend Orly Ripmaster in Vail, Colorado (8). Orly lettered in both Soccer and Lacrosse at Harvard University (6) before using her red-shirt season to play soccer for the CU Buffs (7). In 2003, while Tufts Captained the CU Football Team, Orly helped lead the CU Soccer team to the first Big XII Championship. Orly and Sean reside in Denver with their two AKC Registered Bernese Mountain Dogs. Orly is a hotel consultant for Smith Travel Research (STR Analytics) based in Boulder and is a regular contributor to HotelNewsNow.com (5). Sean enjoys woodworking and photography. (4) Additionally Sean is an avid competitive rollerblader. (7)

Sean Ripmaster-Tufts Rollerblading in San Francisco

Notes

1.) http://leeds.colorado.edu/MBA/interior.aspx?id=11873

2.) http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=204785056

3.) http://www.cubuffs.com/pdf1/3815.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=600

4.) http://www.flickr.com/photos/stufts/

5.) http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/4807/The-year-end-RevPAR-recovery-race

6.) http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1999/10/13/athlete-of-the-week-orly-ripmaster/

7.) http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=24967

8.) http://www.peppercorn.com/goopages/pages_downloadgallery/downloadget.php?filename=10125.pdf

9.) http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/player?id=7577&_slug_=sean-tufts&action=login&appRedirect=http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft/player%3fid%3d7577%26_slug_%3dsean-tufts

10.) http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=24639

11.) http://leeds.colorado.edu/MBA/interior.aspx?id=9042&ekmensel=c580fa7b_154_602_btnlink