Kenny Easley
Kenny Easley was born in Chesapeake, Virginia, United States on January 15th, 1959 and is the Football Player. At the age of 65, Kenny Easley biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 65 years old, Kenny Easley has this physical status:
Kenneth Mason Easley Jr. (born January 15, 1959) is an American former professional football player who was a strong safety in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons during the 1980s.
He played college football for the UCLA Bruins and was a three-time consensus All-American.
A first-round pick in the 1981 NFL Draft, Easley played professionally for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks from 1981 to 1987.
Easley has been considered to be among the best defensive backs during his era and one of the Seahawks' all-time greatest players.Easley was one of Seahawks' defensive unit leaders and one of the finest defensive players in the NFL during the 1980s.
In 1984, Easley was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press.
He was a four-time All–Pro selection and was elected to the Pro Bowl five times in his career.
Easley's career ended after the 1987 season, when he was diagnosed with severe kidney disease. After retirement, Easley owned a Cadillac dealership and later, the Norfolk Nighthawks AF2 team from 1999 to 2003.
In 1998, he was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.
In 2017, he was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Early years
Born and raised in Chesapeake, Virginia, Easley graduated from its Oscar F. Smith High School in 1977. He was the first player in the history of Virginia high school football to rush and pass for over 1,000 yards in a single season, and was named as an all-state and All-American selection at quarterback. In 1996, Oscar F. Smith High School honored Easley and two other football graduates Ed Beard and Steve DeLong by naming its football stadium "Beard–DeLong–Easley Field" on September 6.
College career
Easley was reportedly recruited by 350 colleges, Easley selected University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and played for the Bruins football team, and Easley selected University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He played in ten games as a true freshman in 1977, recording nine interceptions, and was named to his first all Pac-10 team. His 93 tackles set a school record for tackles by a true freshman. Later this year, he became the first conference holder to be honoured as all-conference for four years in a row. Easley played for 454 yards from 1977 to 1980, making his college career from 19 interceptions and 324 tackles.
In 1980, Easley was a three-time consensus All-American pick (1978, 1979, 1980) and came in eighth in the Heisman Trophy balloting. His No. is undisputed. In 1991, 5 jersey was retired by the Bruins, and he was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. He played basketball at the junior varsity level for UCLA and was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the tenth round of the 1981 NBA Draft, but did not participate.
Professional career
The Seattle Seahawks selected Easley as the fourth overall pick of the 1981 NFL Draft. As a rookie in 1981, he made three interceptions for 155 yards and one touchdown, earning him AFC Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. Chuck Knox, a former Buffalo Bills coach, was hired as the Seahawks' head coach in 1983, and Easley was quickly named as Knox's "backbone" of Knox's defense. Easley earned the AFC Defensive Player of the Year Award in his first season with Knox and had seven interceptions. With ten interceptions, Easley led the NFL in interceptions in 1984, which tied for the first time in club history. He recalled two of them for touchdowns and was named as the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, the first safety honor since Dick Anderson in 1973. The Seahawks returned four interceptions for touchdowns in 1984, including one intercepted by Easley, breaking the record for most touchdowns scored from an interception in a game. When Paul Johns was hospitalized earlier this season, he took over the team's key punt returner.
After the season, Easley decided to remain with the Seahawks for five years, earning $650,000 per year in incentives. He was one of the top-paid defensive players in the league when he was signed. Easley was selected for his fourth straight Pro Bowl in 1985, a team record until defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy was selected for his fifth straight Pro Bowl in 1995.
He was hospitalized for the bulk of the 1986 season; he suffered his knee against the San Diego Chargers on October 11, and he missed the remainder of the season due to ankle surgery. As the Seattle Seahawks were trying to pick the first overall pick from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1987, Easley was rumored to be in the trade block in order to draft quarterback Vinny Testaverde.
Easley, the Seahawks' representative and a leading figure in the 1987 NFL strike, was born in 1987. With the signing of a new collective bargaining contract with the free agency a big factor, National Football League Players Association president Gene Upshaw managed to persuade Easley and hundreds of his fellow NFL players to go on strike. As a result, the league decided to add new players to their rosters, as well as a few veterans who fell outside the "picket line." When Easley, a former teammate, Jim Zorn, offered his services to the Seahawks, Easley said he was delighted.
Easley also told his teammates that he was opposed to using abuse against the replacement players in order to prove a point. Since the strike ended, Easley had an off-year as the Seahawks' passing defense dropped to 25th in the league. In the wild card game of the 1987 NFL playoffs, his last game was a 23–20 overtime loss to the Houston Oilers.
The Seahawks had offered Easley to various clubs before the 1988 season in the hopes of bringing a quarterback back. Easley's declining play, which was partially due to his involvement during the strike and Easley's back-up Paul Moyer's burgeoning, had made Easley expendable. The Seahawks traded Easley to the Phoenix Cardinals for quarterback Kelly Stouffer on April 22, 1988. Easley was diagnosed with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome, a severe kidney disease that had ruled out the trade during the mandatory team physical. Easley had told Moyer that he felt his days with the Seahawks were numbered due to his involvement in the player's injury. When the trade ended, he was not surprised, but the kidney disease had "shocked" him, according to his. As punishment to the Cardinals to finish the trade, the Seahawks offered several draft picks, but Easley announced his resignation a few months later.
Easley, his coach, and the team's physicians have filed a lawsuit alleging that an overdose of Advil (ibuprofen) causing his kidney failure a few years ago was the cause of his kidney failure. He knew there were problems with his kidney as early as 1986, but he finally understood the severity of the problem when he failed the Cardinals' physical. Before a doctor told him to stop, Easley said he took 15 to 20 Advils every three months to reduce the swelling in his ankle. Advil and other drugs were quickly available in the Seahawks locker room in "large bottles" without proper medical supervision, according to a former teammate. The doctors in Easley said they never advised him to take the number of Advils Easley claimed. His case made national news and sparked controversy about the use of over-the-counter drugs like Advil. The case was later settled out of court.
Easley underwent a new kidney transplant at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle two years ago.