The body of JaJuan Dawson, a former NFL player, was recovered from a lake in North Texas late Monday after authorities used sonar equipment to help find him underwater.
Dawson went missing Sunday evening and witnesses told the Collin County Sheriff's Office that the former Houston Texans player fell off a rented boat into
Lake Lavon near Clear Lake Park, according to KXAS-TV.
Search teams from the Collin County Sheriff's Office, Wylie Fire Department, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and Texas Game Wardens assisted in the rescue effort until about 11:30 p.m. when the search was suspended until Monday, according to the television station.
Collin County Sheriff spokesman Chris Havey told the Houston Chronicle that Dawson was on the boat with his wife and three children when the incident occurred. Authorities told the newspaper that Dawson never surfaced.
Dawson played wide receiver for the Texans, Cleveland Browns, and
Indianapolis Colts from 2000 to 2003, according to WFAA-TV. His career was shortened by a number of injuries that included a broken collarbone, and he was released by the New York Giants in 2004.
Dawson was one of the leading receivers for the Tulane University football team that went 12-0 in 1998, won the Liberty Bowl, and finished No. 7 in the final
national rankings by The Associated Press, the Baton Rouge Advocate reported. He was inducted to the Tulane Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005 and the undefeated team was inducted as a group three years later.
Jay Foreman, a former NFL player with the Texans, joined others in sending condolences to Dawson and his family on social media.