Kenny King. In 1978, my brother and I went to T-shirts plus to have Oklahoma T-shirts made. He got #20 put on the back of his for Billy Sims, I got #30 on mine for Kenny King.
Every time my brother and I drive through Clarendon, we call each other and ask, "Hey, have you seen Kenny King around?" According to this article, we the answer could someday be, "yes!":
King of Clarendon
After tasting fame, ex-NFL'er comes home
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By Jeremy Heath
[email protected]
February 4, 2007
If your TV has been tuned to ESPN or ESPN2 for any length of time in the past 24 hours, there's a pretty good chance an image of an Oakland Raider wearing No. 33 has flickered across your screen.
The image shows No. 33 catching a swing pass from quarterback Jim Plunkett and racing down the left sideline for an 80-yard touchdown in a 27-10 win against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XV.
The play stood as a Super Bowl record for longest reception for 16 years before Green Bay's Antonio Freeman caught an 81-yarder from Brett Favre in the Packers' 35-21 win against New England in Super Bowl XXXI.
The man who held that record for 16 years is affectionately known to Panhandle sports fans as Kenny King from Clarendon. Not Kenny King. Kenny King from Clarendon.
"I think it was just always one of Clarendon's ways of having an identity," King said of the moniker. "Plus, I've always been proud to say I was from Clarendon, Texas. I've never shied away from the fact that I was from a small town. I think it's just our way of saying this is what we are known for, and we're proud of what we've got. That's just an opinion, though. Honestly, I don't know."
King uses the term "our" in referring to the people of Clarendon for good reason. The 5-foot-11-inch, 205-pound running back, who left Clarendon for Barry Switzer's wishbone backfield at the University of Oklahoma in 1975, is now, once again, Kenny King from Clarendon.
After spending the last 16 years in the package-shipping industry in Colorado and California, King and his wife, Wanda, moved back to Clarendon about a month ago. King's mother, Louisa, still lives in Clarendon. Though he said she is in good health, she will turn 80 in March, and he wanted to be closer to her.
In the 32 years since King (then Kenneth King) left Clarendon, he has lived in Norman, Okla.; Houston; Oakland, Calif.; Los Angeles; Dallas; New York; Denver; and again Oakland.
In that time, he has lined up in the same backfield as four Heisman Trophy winners. He was in the backfield with Billy Sims (1978 Heisman winner) at OU, Earl Campbell (1977) with the Houston Oilers and Plunkett (1970) and Marcus Allen (1981) with the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders. He played in the 1980 Pro Bowl. He won two Super Bowl rings with Oakland (XV and XVIII).
Like many athletes, he suffered through an awkward adjustment from the world of professional sports to the private sector after he retired in 1986. After coming to terms with the finality of his retirement, he started a new career with Denver's UPS office in 1990. After seven years with UPS, he moved to Federal Express, where he remained in management until the end of last year.
In those 32 years, Kenny King from Clarendon got to live the kind of life many sports fans dream about.
Recruiting War
After watching his older brother, El Ray King, and teammate Tommy Shields lead Clarendon to the 1972 Class 1A state title game and garner enough attention to earn scholarships to Wichita State and Texas Tech, respectively, King realized his football talents might be good enough to get him recognized, even in Clarendon.
During his senior year, he got letters from Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC and UCLA. Texas A&M, Texas and Texas Tech started showing serious interest.
By November 1974, Texas A&M was the frontrunner. The A&M coaching staff was persistent, and King's father (the late Walter King) was pushing him in that direction. Oklahoma had shown no interest.
"I was sitting there talking to my brother at Thanksgiving, and he asked me if I could go anywhere I wanted, where would it be?" King said. "I said, 'That's easy, Oklahoma. But I haven't even heard from them.' A couple of days later, the phone rang, and it was Oklahoma. From that point on, it became a recruiting war between Texas A&M and Oklahoma."
Cultural Differences
With his primary candidates narrowed to two, King made visits to College Station and Norman. The cultural differences he observed during those visits made his choice an easy one.
"I went to College Station, and they came and picked me up at the hotel and took me to this club," King said. "When I walked in the club, it was black players on this side and white players on this side. That was very boring for me. One of the things I wanted was to get into a non-prejudiced environment, an environment where players are coming together as a team."
King went to Norman.
"When I went to Oklahoma, they took me to a club called the Blue Onion," King said. "I walked into the club, and I saw black players and white players together, socializing together. I said, 'That's why this team is a champion. Not only do they play together on the field, they play together off the field. And it's genuine.'"
On the night before national signing day, OU head coach Barry Switzer checked into the Blue Skies Motel in Clarendon. The next morning, he escorted King to a press conference, made sure King signed his commitment to OU, got on a private jet and zipped off to sign another recruit.
Bootlegger's Boy
Switzer won three national championships (1973, '74 and '85) at OU. He knew how to find great athletes, and when he found them, he knew how to relate to them.
Growing up in rural Arkansas, Switzer watched his father serve time for a bootlegging conviction that was later overturned and was forced to deal with the suicide of his mother in 1959. According to Switzer's 1990 biography "Bootlegger's Boy," his father also opened a small-loan business for black families and helped pay college tuition for black students. This background helped Switzer relate to black athletes at a time when some college coaches were still reluctant to recruit them.
After a solid spring as a freshman, King was being promoted by OU for the Heisman as a sophomore. Despite a lingering ankle injury and splitting carries with Horace Ivory, Elvis Peacock and quarterback Thomas Lott, King led the Sooners with 839 yards. The Sooners split the Big Eight title with Oklahoma State and Nebraska and beat Wyoming 41-7 in the Fiesta Bowl.
His junior year, King's role changed. Switzer asked King to do more blocking, so he could feature Sims. King agreed. With King, Sims, Peacock and Lott in the backfield, the Sooners went 10-2 in 1977.
In 1978, it was more of the same. David Overstreet replaced Peacock, but the game plan was the same. With King primarily blocking, Sims ran for 1,896 yards and won the Heisman. The Sooners finished 11-1 and avenged their only loss with a 31-24 win against Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.
King was able to put his ego aside because the team was winning, but his relegation to a blocking role bothered him. His relationship with Switzer was at times rocky. He carried some animosity toward both Switzer and Sims, but later repaired both relationships.
"Billy and I talked at David Overstreet's funeral (1984)," King said. "Billy had won the Heisman, and I had won two Super Bowls. Billy's comment to me was, 'I'll share with you. I'll share my Heisman with you if you share your world championships with me.' And I said, 'These years that I've kind of had a little bit of anger about not getting the opportunity to carry the ball as much, well, I'm over that.' Here we were at David Overstreet's funeral, and he didn't get to share in any of that."
King made peace with Switzer after reading his biography in 1990.
"I never knew all those things about him," King said. "I'll never forget the day he and I sat down and buried the hatchet. It was a great time because there was no resentment from me or him. We decided whatever happened happened. That's what makes a man's man, and Barry Switzer is a man's man."
Houston
King was selected in the third round of the 1979 draft by Bum Phillips' Houston Oilers.
With future Hall of Famer Campbell, Rob Carpenter and Tim Wilson in the Oilers backfield, King didn't see much playing time.
King thought about going into the oil business with a friend he made in Houston, but Phillips helped change his mind.
"Coach Phillips called me into his office and told me sometimes in life things happen that are for the best for everyone," King said.
Phillips had traded King to the Raiders for safety Jack Tatum and a draft pick.
The Raiders
Phillips was right. King's move to Oakland was for the best.
In 1980, King ran for 761 yards and caught 22 passes. He was selected to the Pro Bowl, and of course, there was Super Bowl XV. King's record catch and run was seen in more than 40 million households.
"The kids in the '80s and the early '90s, they knew who I am because of when I played, but the kids after that don't know who I am," King said. "All they know is that every year, Super Bowl highlights come on, and here it flashes across the Oakland Raiders versus the Philadelphia Eagles, and here's this No. 33 catching the football and going 80 yards."
King led the Raiders in rushing in 1981 with 828 yards, but the team finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs.
The next season, he found himself in an all-too-familiar situation. The Raiders drafted USC's Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Allen. And like his junior season at OU, King was asked to do a lot more blocking.
"In training camp, I went over to the practice facility, and I was asked by the media what I thought about Marcus Allen," King said. "I said he's a great athlete and a Heisman Trophy winner. That he's going to do a lot of great things for us. They said, 'How does that affect you?' I said I had blocked in college and left it at that."
With King blocking, Allen was named NFL Rookie of the Year in 1982. The team finished 8-1 (in the strike-shortened season) and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
Winning helped King deal with his situation emotionally. But at 205 pounds, blocking linebackers who outweighed him by as much as 50 pounds started to take its toll. King suffered ankle and shoulder injuries but played through them. In 1983, the Raiders went 12-4 and hammered Washington 38-9 in Super Bowl XVIII behind a then-record 191-yard rushing day from Allen.
Fullback Frank Hawkins, who was a devastating blocker, was taking more snaps than was King. That continued through the 1984 season. In 1985, King met with head coach Tom Flores and owner Al Davis. He explained that his body was taking too much of a pounding at fullback and that Hawkins was a better blocker anyway. Flores and Davis listened and moved King to tailback to back up Allen. King carried the ball just 16 times and caught three passes. That's what happens when the guy you're backing up sets a then-NFL record for yards from scrimmage with 2,314 and scores 14 touchdowns.
King was released the next season. After sitting out a season, the Detroit Lions expressed some interestin King. Al Davis then called King and convinced him to re-sign with the Raiders. He was released before the season when a running back/outfielder out of Auburn agreed to join the Raiders when the Kansas City Royals were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. That was Bo Jackson.
King spent 1987 with Hamilton Tigercats of the Canadian Football League and retired for good after the season.
King moved to Dallas in 1988.
"That's where the transformation started," King said. "That's where I learned to be a regular person again. I could go to the store, restaurant or a bar and not be recognized. I was just another guy walking through the door. It took two years because all your life you've been heralded as a superstar, as an athlete. Through high school, college, the NFL, you're programmed to think that. When you retire from the game and go back into the public and try to be a regular person, it's hard because you have this ego. And that ego needs to be fed. Some players make the adjustment. Some players will never make it. I decided I didn't want to be stuck in that afterworld."
In the spring of 1990, King lived in New York, where he was a scout for the defunct World League of American Football. In June 1990, he moved to Denver. He got a job as a handler for UPS, got married and had two children. He moved up the ladder at UPS, and in 1998 took a management position at Federal Express. In 2004, he transferred to Oakland, but by the end of last year he realized there was nothing left for him in Oakland.
That's when Kenny King from Clarendon decided he wanted to again be Kenny King from Clarendon.
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