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LaDainian Tomlinson (born June 23, 1979) is an American football player who currently plays running back for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League.Tomlinson, frequently called "LT",set several records during the 2006 NFL season by scoring a league-leading 186 points. He received additional honors by winning the NFL’s Most Valuable Player Award and the Associated Press’ Offensive Player of the Year Award.LaDainian Tomlinson was born to Loreane Chappelle and Oliver Tomlinson in Rosebud, Texas. His early life was full of adversity; his brother and grandfather both died when he was a child, forced to support the remaining members of the family by himself. However before leaving, his father instilled an affection for football in his son.

Tomlinson attended University High School in Waco, Texas, where he played basketball, baseball, and football. Tomlinson began his football career as a linebacker, but blossomed on the offensive side of the ball. Tomlinson amassed 2,554 yards and 39 touchdowns his senior year, earning honors as the District 25-4A Most Valuable Player, Super Centex Offensive Player of the Year.Tomlinson was an avid Dallas Cowboys and Miami Hurricanes fan during his youth. He especially idolized Walter Payton, Jim Brown, and Emmitt Smith. He trained with Smith during a summer camp. In a later interview with ESPN, Tomlinson stated that his playing style and mentality were influenced by the three running backs.Tomlinson was recruited by many schools, but was not considered one of the nation`s top backs coming out of high school. Many have felt this was because Tomlinson didn`t play running back until his senior year in high school and many top colleges had already made their recruiting choices by then. Thus, Tomlinson signed with Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, a small school then in the Western Athletic Conference. Prior to Tomlinson`s arrival, TCU had appeared in only one bowl game in the previous 12 seasons (and 2 in the previous 34), and had recently been "downgraded" to a minor conference (the Western Athletic Conference) after the breakup of the long-standing Southwest Conference. TCU is now part of the Mountain West Conference.

During Tomlinson`s freshman and sophomore years, he split time with Basil Mitchell. In the 1998 season he helped the Horned Frogs win its first bowl game in 41 years against the University of Southern California in the Sun Bowl.During his junior season in 1999, he set an NCAA record for yards in one game with 408 against UTEP. He ended the year with an NCAA-leading 1,850 yards rushing to go along with 18 touchdowns.

In his senior season in 2000, Tomlinson led the NCAA for the second time with 2,158 yards and 22 touchdowns while piling on 354 yards receiving. He won the Doak Walker Award as the nation`s best running back, and was a finalist for the Heisman, but came in fourth. He completed his college career with 5,263 rushing yards, ranking sixth in NCAA Division I history.[8]

The school retired his jersey number (5) during halftime of a November 2005 game against UNLV.[9] In December of that year, Tomlinson fulfilled a promise to his mother by earning his degree in communications from TCU.2001 NFL Draft

The San Diego Chargers selected Tomlinson in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft, as the fifth overall pick. It should be noted that the Chargers possessed the Draft’s first selection, but traded the pick to the Atlanta Falcons,

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