A star football player at Ashland High School, where he graduated in 1991, Chad Cota went on to play 43 consecutive games at the University of Oregon. He provided defense in the backfield for four years as the U of O’s strong safety, and received the Bill Hayward Award as the state’s top amateur male athlete.
Cota continued playing in the National Football League. The Carolina Panthers drafted him in 1995, and before retiring in 2003, he had played for the New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and the St. Louis Rams. Named to the Carolina Panthers’ 10-Year Anniversary Team as a safety, his interception in the end zone on the Pittsburg Steelers final possession clinched the 1996 NFC West Division title. In 2012, he was elected to the Oregon Hall of Fame.
Cota returned to Southern Oregon to live in Medford. He joined with two childhood friends in 2003 to run a regional Internet and communications provider, InfoStructure, which got its start in Ashland. A Cota foundation raises money for nonprofits that serve children, local high school athletic programs and child advocacy services.
Sources: Stiles, Greg. "Three friends run a Talent phone business." Mail Tribune 28 May 2007 [Medford, Ore.] . Web. 23 May 2014; “Cota Selected for Oregon’s Hall of Fame,” Mail Tribune August 14 2012 [Medford, Ore.]. Web 23 May 2014.
