Dennis Louis Gentry (born February 10, 1959) is a former professional
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 ...
player who was selected by the
Chicago Bears in the 4th round of the
1982 NFL Draft
The 1982 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 27–28, 1982, at the New York Sh ...
. He spent his entire 11-year NFL career with the Bears from 1982 to 1992, and was a part of the Bears team that was victorious in
Super Bowl XX versus the
New England Patriots. He was also a member of the "Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew" in the video "
The Super Bowl Shuffle
"The Super Bowl Shuffle" is a song performed by the Chicago Bears football team (credited as the Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew) in . It was released in December 1985 on Chicago-based Red Label Records and distributed through Capitol Records two mo ...
," which featured him pantomiming on the
bass.
In 2001, he was the running backs coach for the
XFL's
Chicago Enforcers
The Chicago Enforcers were a short-lived American football team based at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. This team was part of the failed XFL begun by Vince McMahon of WWE and by NBC, a major television network in the United States. NBC drop ...
until the league folded. Later that year he was hired as a
BLESTO regional scout for the
Detroit Lions until 2011.
Gentry finished his career with 171 receptions for 2,076 yards and seven touchdowns. He also rushed for 764 yards and five touchdowns. But his main contribution came as a kick returner, and is currently ranked third in return yardage (4,353) for the Bears. Dennis is also tied for the club's all-time kick returns with 192.
In 1986, he led the NFL with a 28.8-yards-per-return average.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gentry, Dennis
1959 births
Living people
American football running backs
American football wide receivers
Baylor Bears football players
Chicago Bears players
Chicago Enforcers coaches
Players of American football from Texas
Sportspeople from Lubbock, Texas