Byron Charles Braggs (born October 10, 1959) 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 wi ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

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) who played for the Green Bay Packers (1981–1983) and the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

(1984).

Early years

Braggs grew up in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

in the south-central part of the state. He attended and played football at George Washington Carver High School in Montgomery, graduating in 1977. Braggs was the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

to win the "

Jimmy Hitchcock James Franklin Hitchcock Jr. (June 28, 1911 – July 23, 1959) was an American college football player and Major League Baseball player during the Depression Era. Hitchcock played for the Auburn Tigers football team of Auburn University (then Al ...

Award", named in honor of Auburn University's All-American football player, who also was a native of Montgomery.

College career

Braggs attended and played college football at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population o ...

for the legendary coach

Paul "Bear" Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of t ...

from 1977 to 1980. While playing for the Crimson Tide, Braggs was twice named All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(1979 and 1980), and All-American (1979 and 1980). Braggs played on Alabama's 1978 and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

National Championship teams. He had two quarterback sacks in the

1979 Sugar Bowl The 1979 Sugar Bowl was the 45th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Monday, January 1. Part of the 1978–79 bowl game season, it matched the top-ranked Penn State Nitt ...

win over Penn State. Braggs experienced a

heat stroke Heat stroke or heatstroke, also known as sun stroke, is a severe heat illness that results in a body temperature greater than , along with red skin, headache, dizziness, and confusion. Sweating is generally present in exertional heatstroke, ...

after an Alabama football practice in which he passed out and his body temperature reached 105 degrees, an incident which is credited with changing Alabama's practices regarding the provision of water. Braggs earned a B.A. degree in Broadcast and Film Communications (1982), and a M.A. degree in Education (1989). Tide 102.9, Interview with Byron Braggs, August 16, 2018, ''available at'' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KumG4dljTXY

Professional career

Braggs entered the NFL as a fifth-round draft choice of the Green Bay Packers in the 1981 NFL Draft as a defensive lineman. Braggs finished his NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

After football

Braggs worked as a Criminal Investigator/Special Agent for the U.S. Customs Service. Subsequently that entity became a part of the Department of Homeland of Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Braggs served as the Acting Chief Intelligence Officer for the Washington DC field office. Braggs retired from ICE in October of 2016. Braggs is a gold life member of the Sterling (VA) Fire Company, where rouse through the ranks and retired at the rank of Lieutenant. Today, Braggs is married and lives in the metropolitan

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

area and is a Life Member of

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...

fraternity, and participates with various civic, social and charitable organizations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braggs, Byron 1959 births Living people Players of American football from Montgomery, Alabama American football defensive ends Alabama Crimson Tide football players Green Bay Packers players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players