Horatio Benedict "Bennie" Blades Sr. (born September 3, 1966) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

and

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played college football at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

College career

Blades played a big part in the

's winning the 1987

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

National Championship. He also won the

Jim Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Paycom ...

in that year and, in 2006, was named to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

for his play at the University of Miami. He shares the University of Miami single season interception record with fellow Miami Hurricane

Sean Taylor Sean Michael Maurice Taylor (April 1, 1983 – November 27, 2007) was an American football safety for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected fifth overall in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Redskins, where h ...

. During his play at Miami he and the defensive secondary were nicknamed "Bennie and the Jets," (in reference of the

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

song of the same name) for their speed, power, ability & stand-out defensive play. He is also remembered for taunting and intimidating opposing players. Blades was interviewed about his time at the University of Miami for the documentary ''

The U "The U" is a nickname often given to a university. Specifically, it has been used to refer to: * The University of Miami ** ''The U'' (film), a 2009 documentary about the University of Miami football team. * The University of Utah The Univers ...

'', which premiered December 12, 2009 on

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Professional career

Following his graduation from the University of Miami, Blades entered the

1988 NFL Draft The 1988 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1988, at the Marriot Marq ...

and spent ten seasons in the NFL. He played for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

from 1988 to 1996 and the 1997 season with the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

, teaming up with his older brother, wide receiver

Brian Blades Brian Keith Blades (born July 24, 1965) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). Blades graduated from Piper High School in Sunrise, Florida ...

, who also played collegiate football at the University of Miami. During his time with the Lions, Blades was considered one of the most physical defensive backs in the NFL, even playing as a linebacker in certain passing situations toward the end of his career. Blades is widely considered to be one of the greatest defensive backs in Lions' history. The Lions selected Blades with the third overall pick in the 1988 NFL Draft, and he went on to earn NFL All-Rookie honors for the 1988 season. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 1991 - in addition to receiving First-team All-NFL and First-team All-NFC honors. He was the Lions’ Defensive MVP in 1992 and led the team with 78 tackles in 1996. He had two 100-tackle seasons in is first two seasons in Detroit. An underrated professional player, Blades was a key component to the Lions’ defense that helped the team claim two

NFC Central The National Football Conference – Northern Division or NFC North is one of the four divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed the "Black and Blue Division" for the rough and tough ri ...

titles, and a berth in the 1991 NFC Championship game. He was a defensive captain for five years in Detroit and his 815 career tackles place him second on the Lions’ all-time list.

Personal life

Blades' has a blended family of 8 children: (3) boys Horatio (H.B.), Jaylen and Tylan; (5) girls Elice, Ashley, Amber, Bianca and Alyssa. Each being a vital part of his life and success. Horatio (H.B.) also played in the NFL for 5 seasons. Blades was honored September 25, 2015 as a GridIron Greats inductee.

References

External links

"Bennie Blades: The Interview"
''The Miamist'', May 31, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blades, Bennie 1966 births Living people All-American college football players American football cornerbacks American football safeties College Football Hall of Fame inductees Detroit Lions players Miami Hurricanes football players National Conference Pro Bowl players Players of American football from Fort Lauderdale, Florida Seattle Seahawks players Piper High School (Florida) alumni Ed Block Courage Award recipients