Known as “Ironhead” for his punishing rushing style, Craig Heyward battled on for an 11-year… Known as “Ironhead” for his punishing rushing style, Craig Heyward battled on for an 11-year NFL career after his days as a Pitt Panther.

Saturday, the former first-round draft pick lost his final battle — an eight-year struggle with a recurring brain tumor that he had been originally diagnosed with in 1998. He was 39 years old.

“Craig Heyward truly ranks among the all-time greats in Pitt football history,” Pitt football coach Dave Wannstedt said in a statement. “I will always remember him as a tremendous player who had an irrepressible attitude on and off the field.”

Heyward rushed for Pitt from 1984-87 and finished his career as a Panther as the third all-time leading rushing in the school’s history with 3,086 yards.

His total of 1,791 yards in 1987 earned him a consensus All-American honor and finished him fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting ranks second behind Tony Dorsett’s 2,150 yards as the most in one season.

During that season, Heyward also joined Dorsett on another list, becoming the second Pitt back to rush for 100 yards or more 12 times in a season.

After the 1987 season, Heyward left Pitt early with one year remaining to enter the NFL Draft. And in the 1988 draft, the New Orleans Saints selected Heyward with the 24th overall pick.

Heyward’s 11 seasons in the NFL were with New Orleans (1988-92), Chicago (1993), Atlanta (1994-96), St. Louis (1997) and Indianapolis (1998). In 1995, he was selected to the Pro Bowl after rushing for 1,083 yards.

Blair Armstrong, who coached Heyward’s son at Peachtree Ridge High School, told the Associated Press he got a call at 4:30 or 5 that he had passed away.

“He wasn’t real mobile, but he’d been rehabbing,” Armstrong said in the report. “He thought he might walk again. But once he lost his hearing and his sight, his organs started shutting down.

“Other problems were just developing.”

Wannstedt noted that he recently spoke to Heyward and that he sounded surprisingly well, but knew that wasn’t actually the case.

“We spoke just a few weeks ago,” Wannstedt said, “and I was struck by the typical upbeat ‘Ironhead’ attitude he displayed despite his health.

“The thoughts and prayers of the entire Pitt family are with Craig’s loved ones during this time of sorrow.”

Heyward leaves behind four children, one of which is 6-foot-7, 280-pound Cameron Heyward, who visited Pitt last month on a recruiting trip and is considered one of the nation’s top defensive-line recruits.

Heyward’s funeral service will be held on Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. at Victory World Church, 5905 Brook Hollow Parkway, Norcross, Ga.

In lieu of flowers, the Heyward family asks that donations be made to the Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation, P.O. Box 422471, Atlanta, Ga. 30342. For more information, visit www.sbtf.org.