Kenny Easley, UCLA star and Seahawks standout, dies at 66

On a flight to Houston to play in his first college football game, Kenny Easley was told he would be splitting time with a veteran UCLA teammate at free safety.

“It is what it is,” Easley told The Times in 2017, recounting the story 40 years later. “Michael Coulter started and played the first two quarters, I played the second two and Michael never played again.”

It was the reign of a player who would be called “The Enforcer” for the way he communicated his will to college and NFL opponents. Easley finished that first season with nine interceptions and 93 tackles, school records for a true freshman, and just started on his way to becoming the first player in Pac-10 history to be named to the conference’s first team all four seasons.

Easley, one of the most respected players in school history, died Friday of natural causes after failing health, the school announced. He was 66 years old. Easley had long battled kidney problems that forced the five-time Pro Bowl player to retire early in 1987 after spending all seven of his NFL seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Seahawks legend Kenny Easley,” the team said in a statement. “Kenny embodies what it means to be a Seahawk through his leadership, toughness, intensity and ruthlessness. His fearless nature and athletic grace made him one of the greatest players of all time.”

Much of this determination was made thanks to a childhood game that Easley called Dynamite Pig Skin. A pack of children will be born in the town of Easley in Chesapeake, Va. will gather in the sports fields, and footballs will be thrown in the air.

Safety Kenny Easley also returned punts for UCLA.

(Courtesy UCLA Athletics)

Whoever caught it would run and try to catch it until the ball carrier surrounded himself with despair, forcing him to throw the ball back into the air, where the game earned the title of Dynamite. The game would go on for hours until everyone was tired and exhausted.

One of the nation’s top prospects out of high school, Easley stood out for Michigan, telling everyone he was playing for the Wolverines. But on the day of his college announcement, Easley made it clear he was playing for another finalist, UCLA, during a ceremony in his high school’s auditorium.

“So just like that, the proverbial genie is out of the bottle and it’s on videotape that I’m going to UCLA,” Easley would recall many years later. He suspected he had changed his mind because the Bruins had said from the start they were recruiting him to play free safety while Michigan wanted him at quarterback, his other high school position.

Easley tallied 19 interceptions in four college seasons, which remains the school record. With 13 interceptions in his first two seasons, Easley provided a ready explanation for why he couldn’t keep up that pace.

“They didn’t throw the ball up the middle,” he said of opposing quarterbacks. “If I’m playing against Kenny Easley, I’m not going to throw the ball up the middle either.”

Easley also returned punts and was a punishing tackler, racking up 105 tackles during his senior season in 1980. He would finish ninth in voting for the Heisman Trophy that year. His 374 career tackles remain the fifth-most in UCLA history and he became the school’s second player to earn consensus All-American honors three times, joining linebacker Jerry Robinson.

“Kenny Easley was the most competitive person I’ve ever met in my life,” Robinson wrote in an email to the Times. “No matter what he was doing, whether it was sports or life, he was in it to win! Whether it was football, basketball, lifting softball, playing cards, high diving in swimming or golf, whatever he wanted to do he wanted to be the best at it. And he was the best at it. He played as the best or all the players around RIP5.”

The Seahawks selected Easley with the fourth pick in the 1981 draft, and he went on to throw 32 interceptions over seven seasons. But his time with the franchise came to a screeching halt when he blamed the team’s prescription drugs for causing his kidney problems. Both sides will later resolve their differences. Easley was named one of the 50 greatest players in franchise history.

Elected to the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, Easley had his No. 5 jersey retired by UCLA in 1991 and was also inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

He is survived by his wife, Gail Easley; his children, Kendrick Easley, Gabriel Manhertz, Giordna Easley; his grandchildren, Christopher Manhertz, Mason Manhertz, Mila Manhertz, Kenton Easley; his siblings, Patricia Savills, Yvette Easley, Tracy Duncan, and Keith Easley; and other close relatives. A private service will be held for family and close friends.