Kenny Easley
Encyclopedia
Kenny Mason Easley Jr. is a former American football
strong safety
who played seven seasons for the Seattle Seahawks
from 1981
to 1987
in the National Football League
. He is considered as one of the greatest Seahawks players of all-time and one of the greatest safeties in NFL history.
Easley played college football at UCLA and was drafted in the first round of the 1981 NFL Draft
. In 1984
Easley was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year
by the Associated Press
. He was a 4-time All-Pro selection and was elected to the Pro Bowl
five times in his career. Easley's career ended after the 1987 season after being diagnosed with severe kidney disease.
In 1998, was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
. In 2010, he was selected to the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame, honoring those who have contributed to sports in southeastern Virginia. He is scheduled to be inducted into that Hall of Fame in October 2010.
where he attended Oscar F. Smith High School
there and was named All-State and All-American. He played college football
at UCLA from 1977 to 1980, where he finished his college career with a school-record nineteen interceptions and 324 tackles. He was a three-time consensus All-America
n selection—(1978
, 1979
, 1980
); a four-time All-Pacific 10 Conference selection (1977, 1978, 1979, and 1980); and finished ninth in the Heisman Trophy
balloting in 1980. His jersey number five was retired by the school, and in 1991, Easley was elected to the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame
.
Easley was also drafted by the Chicago Bulls
in the tenth round of the 1981 NBA Draft
but didn't play.
Easley was drafted as the fourth overall pick in the first round of the 1981 NFL Draft
by the Seahawks where he started in safety as a rookie. He earned AFC Defensive Rookie of the Year honors that season when he recorded three interceptions for 155 yards and one touchdown. In 1983, Easley was selected as AFC Defensive Player of the Year and recorded seven interceptions. In 1984, Easley led the National Football League in interceptions with ten, returning two of them for touchdown
s and was named as NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Afterwards he signed a five-year contract with the Seahawks which made him one of the highest paid defensive players in the league. He missed part of the 1986 season
for ankle surgery.
Prior to the 1988 season
, the Seahawks traded Easley to the Phoenix Cardinals for quarterback
Kelly Stouffer
. There he was diagnosed with a kidney disease and failed the physical. The trade was soon canceled and Easley announced his retirement a few months later. He filed a lawsuit against the Seahawks, the team trainer, and the team doctors saying that an overdose of Advil
for the ankle injury a few years earlier caused his kidney to fail, it was later settled out of court. He received a new kidney two years later.
In his seven-year career, Easley recorded 32 interceptions for 538 yards and three touchdowns, while also returning 27 punts for 302 yards. In 2002
Easley was elected to the Seattle Seahawks Ring of Honor. He was also selected for the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team
.
Up until 2003 Easley was part-owner of a now defunct semi-pro football team, the Norfolk Nighthawks
. He is currently a business entrepreneur.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
strong safety
Defensive back
In American football and Canadian football, defensive backs are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage; they are distinguished from the defensive line players and linebackers, who take positions directly behind or close to the line of...
who played seven seasons for the Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...
from 1981
1981 NFL season
The 1981 NFL season was the 62nd regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XVI when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals.-Major rule changes:...
to 1987
1987 NFL season
The 1987 NFL season was the 68th regular season of the National Football League. A 24-day players' strike reduced the 16-game season to 15. The games that were scheduled for the third week of the season were canceled, but the games for weeks 4–6 were played with replacement players...
in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. He is considered as one of the greatest Seahawks players of all-time and one of the greatest safeties in NFL history.
Easley played college football at UCLA and was drafted in the first round of the 1981 NFL Draft
1981 NFL Draft
The 1981 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 28–29, 1981...
. In 1984
1984 NFL season
The 1984 NFL season was the 65th regular season of the National Football League. The Colts relocated from Baltimore, Maryland to Indianapolis, Indiana....
Easley was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year
NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award
The NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award is given by the Associated Press to the league's most outstanding defensive player at the end of every NFL season since 1971. Multiple-award winners include Lawrence Taylor, who won it three times, and Joe Greene, Mike Singletary, Bruce Smith, Reggie...
by the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
. He was a 4-time All-Pro selection and was elected to the Pro Bowl
Pro Bowl
In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...
five times in his career. Easley's career ended after the 1987 season after being diagnosed with severe kidney disease.
In 1998, was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is a sports hall of fame located in Portsmouth, Virginia. Founded in 1972, it moved to its current location in 2005...
. In 2010, he was selected to the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame, honoring those who have contributed to sports in southeastern Virginia. He is scheduled to be inducted into that Hall of Fame in October 2010.
College career
Easley was born in Chesapeake, VirginiaChesapeake, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 199,184 people, 69,900 households, and 54,172 families residing in the city. The population density was 584.6 people per square mile . There were 72,672 housing units at an average density of 213.3 per square mile...
where he attended Oscar F. Smith High School
Oscar F. Smith High School
Oscar Frommel Smith High School was originally built in South Norfolk, Virginia, to replace the aging South Norfolk High School in 1954. In 1994, a new school was constructed in the Greenbrier/Great Bridge area of Chesapeake, Virginia, and has a current enrollment of over 2,100 students...
there and was named All-State and All-American. He played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
at UCLA from 1977 to 1980, where he finished his college career with a school-record nineteen interceptions and 324 tackles. He was a three-time consensus All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
n selection—(1978
1978 College Football All-America Team
The 1978 College Football All-America team is composed of various organizations that choose College All-America teams that season. The organizations that chose the teams were Associated Press, United Press International, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Football Writers Association of America,...
, 1979
1979 College Football All-America Team
The 1979 College Football All-America team is composed of various organizations that choose College All-America teams that season. The organizations that chose the teams were Associated Press, United Press International, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Football Writers Association of America,...
, 1980
1980 College Football All-America Team
The 1980 College Football All-America team is composed of various organizations that choose College All-America teams that season. The organizations that chose the teams were Associated Press, United Press International, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Football Writers Association of America,...
); a four-time All-Pacific 10 Conference selection (1977, 1978, 1979, and 1980); and finished ninth in the Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
balloting in 1980. His jersey number five was retired by the school, and in 1991, Easley was elected to the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
.
Easley was also drafted by the Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
in the tenth round of the 1981 NBA Draft
1981 NBA Draft
The 1981 NBA Draft was the 35th annual draft of the National Basketball Association . The draft was held on June 9, 1981, before the 1981–82 season. The draft was broadcast in the United States on the USA Network. In this draft, 23 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball...
but didn't play.
Pro career
| "He'd be a Hall of Fame player (had he played longer). Maybe he still is. He was that good." |
| Bill Walsh Bill Walsh (football coach) William Ernest "Bill" Walsh was a head coach for the San Francisco 49ers and Stanford Cardinal football team, during which time he popularized the West Coast offense.... |
Easley was drafted as the fourth overall pick in the first round of the 1981 NFL Draft
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...
by the Seahawks where he started in safety as a rookie. He earned AFC Defensive Rookie of the Year honors that season when he recorded three interceptions for 155 yards and one touchdown. In 1983, Easley was selected as AFC Defensive Player of the Year and recorded seven interceptions. In 1984, Easley led the National Football League in interceptions with ten, returning two of them for touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
s and was named as NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Afterwards he signed a five-year contract with the Seahawks which made him one of the highest paid defensive players in the league. He missed part of the 1986 season
1986 NFL season
The 1986 NFL season was the 67th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XXI when the New York Giants defeated the Denver Broncos to win their first league title in 30 years.-Major rule changes:...
for ankle surgery.
Prior to the 1988 season
1988 NFL season
The 1988 NFL season was the 69th regular season of the National Football League. The Cardinals relocated from St. Louis, Missouri to the Phoenix, Arizona area becoming the Phoenix Cardinals but remained in the NFC East division....
, the Seahawks traded Easley to the Phoenix Cardinals for quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
Kelly Stouffer
Kelly Stouffer
Kelly Wayne Stouffer is a former American football quarterback in the NFL. He spent most of his career with the Seattle Seahawks from 1988–1992. He graduated from Rushville High School in Rushville, Nebraska and attended Colorado State University...
. There he was diagnosed with a kidney disease and failed the physical. The trade was soon canceled and Easley announced his retirement a few months later. He filed a lawsuit against the Seahawks, the team trainer, and the team doctors saying that an overdose of Advil
Advil
Advil is a brand of ibuprofen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug . Advil is manufactured by Pfizer and has been on the market since 1984.-History:...
for the ankle injury a few years earlier caused his kidney to fail, it was later settled out of court. He received a new kidney two years later.
In his seven-year career, Easley recorded 32 interceptions for 538 yards and three touchdowns, while also returning 27 punts for 302 yards. In 2002
2002 NFL season
The 2002 NFL season was the 83rd regular season of the National Football League.The league went back to an even number of teams, expanding to 32 teams with the addition of the Houston Texans. The clubs were then realigned into eight divisions, four teams in each...
Easley was elected to the Seattle Seahawks Ring of Honor. He was also selected for the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team
NFL 1980s All-Decade Team
The NFL 1980s All-Decade Team was chosen by voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The team was composed of outstanding performers in the National Football League in the 1980s...
.
Up until 2003 Easley was part-owner of a now defunct semi-pro football team, the Norfolk Nighthawks
Norfolk Nighthawks
The Norfolk Nighthawks are a now-defunct charter member of the AF2. They played their home games at The Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia...
. He is currently a business entrepreneur.