Kelvin Kirk (December 31, 1953 – July 2, 2003) was an

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 ...

wide receiver and

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

who played for seven seasons in 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 ...

. Kirk was also the first Mr. Irrelevant (a humorous award given to the last player picked in the NFL Draft), as the 487th and last draft pick in the 1976 NFL Draft (On the note of the 1976 NFL draft, this was the draft that had the most players ever drafted and he was the last one selected making him the most irrelevant Draft pick of all time).

Early years

Born in

Mount Pleasant, Florida Mount Pleasant is an unincorporated community in Gadsden County, Florida, United States. It is located near the intersection of Veterans' Memorial Highway and Mt. Pleasant Road. Mt. Pleasant borders the city of Gretna and the St. John/ Rober ...

, Kirk's family relocated to

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...

and he starred at Dunbar High School. Kirk then stayed in town to play his college ball at the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

, where he led the nation with 24.5 yards per reception in 1975.

"Mr. Irrelevant"

Kirk was drafted by the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers in the seventeenth and final round of the 1976 NFL Draft, making him the first Mr. Irrelevant of the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

, an "honor" afforded the last player picked in the draft. (Kirk was the very last of 487 selections, the most ever in an NFL draft.)

Career

After being cut by the Steelers, Kirk headed north to play in the

; he wound up spending seven seasons (1977–83) in the CFL, playing with the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-o ...

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in ...

and Ottawa Rough Riders. He compiled over 6,500 yards in Canada as a wide receiver (153 catches for 2,942 yards and 16 touchdowns), punt returner (1,678 yards and 2 TD) and kickoff returner (1,922 yards and a touchdown). Following his career in the CFL, Kirk worked as an artist for the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...

'' before his sudden death by

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

while playing a

pick-up game In sports and video games, a pick-up game (also known as a ''scratch game'' or ''PUG'') is a game that has been spontaneously started by a group of players. Players are generally invited to show up beforehand, but unlike exhibition games there i ...

of basketball in 2003. Kirk was 49.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk, Kelvin 1953 births 2003 deaths Players of American football from Florida Players of Canadian football from Florida Players of American football from Dayton, Ohio Players of Canadian football from Dayton, Ohio American football wide receivers Canadian football wide receivers African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football Dayton Flyers football players Toronto Argonauts players Calgary Stampeders players Saskatchewan Roughriders players Ottawa Rough Riders players Ottawa Citizen people People from Gadsden County, Florida 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people