Born in Auburn, Alabama, Ware seemed to always be an athlete which started in his high school days. He attended Auburn High School with fellow athletes Osi Umenyiora and Marcus Washington. In high school, Ware was the ultimate athlete, as he ran track, played baseball, basketball and football.

In his senior year, he would win both the Most Valuable Receiver and Most Valuable Linebacker award. He finished his season with 7 sacks and 55 total tackles (40 Solo Tackles and 15 assisted tackles as well).

Ware accepted a scholarship from Troy, where he became a two-time All-Sun Belt Conference selection. He became a starter in his sophomore year, where he played at the defensive end position. On the same D-Line, Ware shared the line with Umenyiora.  

Ware in his sophomore year posted an impressive 72 tackles, with 19.5 of those being for a loss. As a junior, he had racked up 62 tackles, 6 sacks, 32 QB hurries, 5 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries.  

But his senior year was by far his breakout year, as he won the Sun Belt Defensive Player Of The Year, and was also a finalist for the Henricks Award. His senior year stats were 53 tackles, 10.5 sacks, 19 tackles for loss and 4 forced fumbles. 

He finished his college career with  27.5 sacks, 201 Tackles, 74 QB hurries, 10 forced fumbles, 4 fumble Recoveries,  and  1 INT…

Ware was the 11th overall pick in the 2005 draft picked by the Dallas Cowboys. Ware would be a unstoppable outside linebacker for the Cowboys from 2005-14. He would then be cut by Dallas, but signed three days later with the Denver Broncos for three years, worth $30 million. 

In his second year with Denver, he would finally win his first Super Bowl ring. Ware will go down as one of the best pass rushers of this generation. He was under appreciated, and in my opinion, he retired at the right time. He made his teammates around him better, and for that, he will likely be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Source: NFL.com