- Bill Kenney
Infobox NFLretired
name=Bill Kenney
width=
caption=
position=Quarterback
number=9
birthdate=birth date and age|1955|1|20San Francisco, California
deathdate=
debutyear=1980
finalyear=1988
draftyear=1978
draftround=12
draftpick=333
(By theMiami Dolphins )
undraftedyear=
college=Northern Colorado
teams=
*Kansas City Chiefs (1980-1988)
stat1label=TD-INT
stat1value=105-86
stat2label=Yards
stat2value=17277
stat3label=QB Rating
stat3value=77.0
nfl=KEN697683
pfr=
dbf=
highlights=
*Pro Bowl s: 1983
HOF=
CollegeHOF=
CFHOF=William Patrick Kenney (born
January 20 ,1955 inSan Francisco, California ) is a retiredquarterback who spent 9 years in theNational Football League with theKansas City Chiefs from 1980 to 1988 and a formerpolitician who spent 8 years as a Missouri State Senator. Kenney was originally drafted by theMiami Dolphins in the 12th round of the1978 NFL Draft with the final selection, making him "Mr. Irrelevant".High school/college
Kenney was born in San Francisco and graduated from San Clemente High School in 1973. He originally received a
scholarship to play atArizona State University but transferred to smallSaddleback College after one season. After graduating from Saddleback, a two yearjunior college , he spent the remainder of his college career at theUniversity of Northern Colorado .NFL
Kenney was given the "honor" of being named
Mr. Irrelevant in 1978 when he was drafted by theMiami Dolphins . The award traditionally is given to the last selection of the draft; Kenney earned the award as the second-to-last selection when the last player taken suffered a back injury and failed to report to camp. He was cut from the Dolphins at the end of training camp, but he had more success two years later, when he made theKansas City Chiefs roster as the backup to Steve Fuller. He ended up starting games late in the year because of an injury to Fuller and did acceptably well. His late season performance helped him to take over the starting job for good in 1981.After an average 1982 season, Kenney was in line to be replaced by
Todd Blackledge , whom the Chiefs drafted as part of the vauntedQuarterback class of 1983 . Kenney responded by having a breakout season, setting team records for passing yards (4,348) and completions (346) in a season; the latter was also good enough to lead the NFL. Kenney earned aPro Bowl berth that season, and is the only Mr. Irrelevant to have been selected to one.He didn't come close to matching his 4,000-yard output over the next four seasons, but he did enough to prevent Blackledge from starting when he was healthy (in 1984, he missed 7 weeks due to a thumb injury). He eventually gave up his starting job in 1988 when the Chiefs traded for
Steve DeBerg . Kenney was released after failing to throw atouchdown pass in 114 attempts that season. He left the Chiefs as the second most prolific passer in team history behind Hall of FamerLen Dawson . He has been passed in most passing categories since then byTrent Green ; Green also broke Kenney's single season record for passing yards in 2004.In 1989, he signed with the
Washington Redskins to be the third quarterback behindMark Rypien and Doug Williams. He did not appear in any games with the 'Skins, however, and he retired after the season.Politics
Kenney took up residency in
Lee's Summit, Missouri after his retirement. He turned his attention topolitics at this time, and in 1994, he successfully ran as a Republican to represent a portion of Kansas City and parts of suburban Jackson County in the Missouri State Senate. In 1996, Kenney ran an unsuccessful campaign to become Missouri'sLieutenant Governor .In 2001, Bill Kenney became the majority
floor leader of the Missouri Senate, and held the position for two years. He left the Senate afterwards due toterm limit s, and retired from politics altogether as a result.External links
* [http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=KENNEBIL02 Database Football] - career statistics
* [http://www.irrelevantweek.com/mr_irr.html Mr. Irrelevant] - List of past Mr. Irrelevants, including Kenney
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