Dennis Wayne Byrd (August 31, 1946 – July 22, 2010) was one of the most dominant defensive tackles in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

history earning first-team All-ACC honors in each of his three years of varsity competition at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

and was a consensus first-team All-American as a Senior in 1967.

College Career at NC State

Byrd made several first-team All-America lists as a Junior in 1966 and was a consensus first-team All-American as a Senior in 1967. He was the first player from NC State to become a consensus First-team All-American and was the first three-time All-ACC player in conference history.

Professional career

Byrd was drafted sixth overall in the first round of the

1968 NFL Draft The 1968 National Football League draft was part of the common draft, in the second year in which the NFL and AFL held a joint draft of college players. It took place at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City on January 30–31, 1968. The Min ...

by the

Boston Patriots Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...

. Byrd started all 14 games for the 1968 Patriots team, but he was never able to fully recover from a knee injury he suffered in his senior year at NC State and only played one year in the NFL.Dennis Byrd Stats
''Pro-Football-Reference''. Retrieved October 3, 2021. After leaving the NFL, Byrd became the high school football coach at

West Lincoln High School West Lincoln High School (WLHS) is in Lincoln County, North Carolina Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,810. Its county seat is Lincolnton. Lincoln County is i ...

Lincolnton, North Carolina Lincolnton is a city in Lincoln County, North Carolina, United States, within the Charlotte metropolitan area. The population was 10,486 at the 2010 census. Lincolnton is northwest of Charlotte, on the South Fork of the Catawba River. The city i ...

, and later was an assistant high school football coach at Northeastern High School in

Elizabeth City, North Carolina Elizabeth City is a city in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, Pasquotank County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,629. Elizabeth City is the county seat and largest city of Pasquotank County. It ...

. He retired from teaching and coaching in 2004.

Honors

In 2001, Byrd became the first defensive player at NC State to have his jersey number (77) retired. He was selected to the ACC 50th Anniversary Football Team in 2003. Byrd was inducted into the

North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame The North Carolina Museum of History is a history museum located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is an affiliate through the Smithsonian Affiliations program. The museum is a part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives ...

in 2007 and was inducted into 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 ...

in 2010. In 2014, he was inducted into th
NC State Athletic Hall of Fame

References

1946 births 2010 deaths All-American college football players American football defensive ends American football defensive tackles Boston Patriots players College Football Hall of Fame inductees NC State Wolfpack football players American Football League players People from Pleasant Garden, North Carolina Players of American football from Guilford County, North Carolina {{defensive-lineman-1940s-stub