Cortez Kennedy

Cortez Kennedy

Cortez Kennedy
No. 96
Defensive Tackle
Personal information
Date of birth: August 23, 1968 (1968-08-23) (age 43) Osceola, Arkansas
Career information
College: Miami (Fla.)
NFL Draft: 1990 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3
Debuted in 1990 for the Seattle Seahawks
Last played in 2000 for the Seattle Seahawks
Career history
Seattle Seahawks (1990-2000)
Career highlights and awards
8× Pro Bowl selection (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999) 3× Associated Press First-team All-Pro selection (1992, 1993, 1994) 1× Associated Press Second-team All-Pro selection (1996) 1× Newspaper Enterprise Association First-team All-Pro selection (1992) 1× Newspaper Enterprise Association Second-team All-Pro selection (1991) NFL 1990s All-Decade Team 1992 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Seahawks Ring of Honor Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame
Stats at NFL.com

Cortez Kennedy (born August 23, 1968 in Osceola, Arkansas) is a former NFL defensive tackle who played his entire eleven-season career with the Seattle Seahawks.

High school and college career

Kennedy was born in Osceola, Arkansas. Lived and grew up on Wilson, Arkansas. He graduated from Rivercrest High School in Wilson, Arkansas, and attended Northwest Mississippi Community College before winning a football scholarship to the University of Miami, where he was named All-American at his position in 1989.

Kennedy was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

He has a jersey of his number in the Rivercrest High School lobby.

Seattle Seahawks

He was the third overall selection in the 1990 draft by the Seahawks, and was a contract holdout through nearly all of the off-season. He missed training camp, and signed only two days before the beginning of the season. Having missed training camp, Kennedy had a rather lackluster rookie year, but was named to the Pro Bowl in 1991. In 1992, having recorded 14 quarterback sacks, he received the NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press despite the Seahawks miserable 2-14 record. He was named All-Pro 4 times.

Kennedy retired after the 2000 season. In 167 games with Seattle, he recorded 668 tackles, 58 sacks, and 3 interceptions. He announced his retirement in August 2002 after sitting out the 2001 season. He was given several offers by other teams, but wanted to finish his career in Seattle.^[1] He is generally considered one of the best defensive tackles to ever play the position in the NFL. He was a Semi-Finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008, as well as a finalist in 2009 and 2011.^[2]

Since his retirement, Kennedy has worked as an advisor for the New Orleans Saints, whose general manager, Mickey Loomis, had previously worked for the Seahawks.^[3][4]

In 2006, Kennedy was inducted into the Seahawks' Ring of Honor.

In 2007, Kennedy was named the best athlete ever to wear the number 96 by SI.com.^[5]

References

1. ^ "DT Kennedy announces retirement". Archived from the original on 2006-11-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20061114081359/http://www.nfl.com/teams/story/SEA/5574413. Retrieved 2006-12-13. 
2. ^ Hall Release – Modern era semi-finalists for Class of 2008
3. ^ "Well-kept secret: Ex-Seattle defensive great a Who Dat", Foxsports.com (accessed September 2, 2010).
4. ^ Dave Hyde, "Dolphins-Saints matchup; Ottis Anderson tells great Parcells story", South Florida Sun-Sentinel, October 24, 2009.
5. ^ "Cortez Kennedy named best athlete to wear number 96". CNN. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0706/gallery.numbers.part3/content.31.html. 

External links

• Marshall Faulk, Deion Sanders, Shannon Sharpe headline 2011 Hall of Fame class – ESPN
• Pro Football Hall Of Fame 2009 Finalist Bio

Persondata
Name	Kennedy, Cortez
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 23, 1968
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death