Daniel "Danny" Kepley (born August 24, 1953) is a former star
linebacker
Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...
for the
Edmonton Eskimos of the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
.
Kepley played college football at
East Carolina University. He tried out with the
NFL's
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...
before starting a 10-year career with the Eskimos from 1975 to 1984.
He was an intense player and hard tackler. Teamed with fellow linebackers
Dale Potter and
Tom Towns for 8 seasons, this trio formed the backbone of a defence that played in 7
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...
games, winning six championships. Kepley won 3 CFL's
Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award The Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award is annually awarded to the best defensive player in the Canadian football League. The winner of the award is selected by members of the Football Reporters of Canada along with the head coaches in the CFL. ...
s and was an All Star 5 times.
Following retirement, Kepley spent the 1985 season as an assistant coach with the Eskimos. He began a real estate career, worked as a football analyst on both radio (
CFRN) and television (
CBC,
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
), and from 2002 to 2010 was an assistant coach with the Eskimos. Kepley has struggled with
alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...
and in 2000 spent time in jail for
impaired driving
Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...
, his fifth such offence.
[Back in football heaven - Despite defeat, Dan Kepley is thankful to be part of the game again, Perry Lefko, Toronto Sun, Nov. 25, 2002.]
Kepley was inducted into the
Canadian Football Hall of Fame
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about t ...
in 1996, and in 2006 was named one of the CFL's
Top 50 players (#11) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network
The Sports Network
The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language sports specialty channel established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. Since 2001, it has been majority-owned by comm ...
/TSN.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kepley, Danny
1953 births
Living people
American players of Canadian football
Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Canadian Football League announcers
Canadian football linebackers
Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award winners
East Carolina Pirates football players
Edmonton Elks coaches
Edmonton Elks players
People from Albemarle, North Carolina
Players of American football from North Carolina