On a flight to Houston to play in his first school soccer recreation, Kenny Easley was instructed that he would break up time at free security with a veteran UCLA teammate.
“That’s what occurred,” Easley instructed The Instances in 2017, recounting the story 40 years later. “Michael Coulter began the sport and performed the primary two quarters, I performed the second two and Michael by no means performed once more.”
Such was the dominance of a participant who could be referred to as The Enforcer for the way in which he inflicted his will on school and NFL opponents. Easley completed that first season with 9 interceptions and 93 tackles, college information for a real freshman, and was simply getting began on the way in which to changing into the primary participant in Pac-10 historical past to be chosen for the convention’s first group all 4 seasons.
Easley, one of the vital revered gamers in class historical past, died Friday from unspecified causes, the varsity introduced. He was 66. Easley had lengthy battled kidney points that pressured the five-time Professional Bowler to retire prematurely in 1987 after spending all seven of his NFL seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.
“We’re deeply saddened by the passing of Seahawks legend Kenny Easley,” the group stated in a press release. “Kenny embodied what it meant to be a Seahawk by means of his management, toughness, depth and fearlessness. His intimidating nature and athletic grace made him among the finest gamers of all-time.”
A lot of that resolve was cast due to a childhood recreation that Easley referred to as dynamite pigskin. A pack of youngsters would collect on the athletic fields in Easley’s hometown of Chesapeake, Va., and a soccer could be tossed into the air.
Security Kenny Easley additionally returned punts for UCLA.
(Courtesy UCLA Athletics)
Whoever caught it will take off working and all people else would attempt to catch him till the ball provider discovered himself hopelessly surrounded, forcing him to throw the ball again into the air, the place the sport earned its dynamite nickname. The sport would go on for hours till everybody was bruised and exhausted.
One of many nation’s high prospects out of highschool, Easley appeared certain for Michigan, telling everybody he was going to play for the Wolverines. However on the day of his school announcement, Easley blurted out that he was going to play for UCLA, his different finalist, throughout a ceremony at his highschool auditorium.
“So similar to that, the proverbial genie is out of the bottle and it’s on videotape that I’m going to UCLA,” Easley would recall a few years later. He suspected he modified his thoughts as a result of the Bruins had stated from the beginning they had been recruiting him to play free security whereas Michigan needed him as a quarterback, his different highschool place.
Easley tallied 19 interceptions throughout 4 school seasons, which stays a faculty report. Having made 13 interceptions throughout his first two seasons, Easley developed a prepared clarification for why he couldn’t maintain that tempo.
“They didn’t throw the ball down the center,” he stated of opposing quarterbacks. “If I used to be taking part in towards Kenny Easley, I wouldn’t throw the ball down the center both.”
Easley additionally returned punts and was a punishing hitter, logging 105 tackles throughout his senior season in 1980. He would end ninth in voting for the Heisman Trophy that yr. His 374 profession tackles stay the fifth most in UCLA historical past and he grew to become the second participant from the varsity to earn consensus All-American honors thrice, becoming a member of linebacker Jerry Robinson.
“Kenny Easley was essentially the most aggressive particular person I’ve ever met in my life,” Robinson wrote in an e mail to The Instances. “It doesn’t matter what he was doing, whether or not it was sports activities or life, he was in it to win it! Whether or not it was soccer, basketball, pick-up softball video games, taking part in playing cards, excessive diving into the swimming pool or golf, all the things he did he needed to be the very best at it. And he was the very best at it. He was the best all-around athlete that I’ve ever performed with. RIP ‘Pressure 5’.”
The Seahawks chosen Easley with the fourth decide within the 1981 draft, and he went on to make 32 interceptions in seven seasons. However his time with the franchise ended acrimoniously after he accused the group of offering medication that led to his kidney issues. The perimeters would later resolve their variations. Easley was named one of many 50 best gamers in franchise historical past.
Elected into the school and professional soccer halls of fame, Easley had his No. 5 jersey retired by UCLA in 1991 and was additionally enshrined within the college’s athletics corridor of fame.
