Ken E. Mendenhall (born August 11, 1948) 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 with ...

center who played ten seasons 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) for the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

. Born in Stillwater, Mendenhall grew up in

Pawhuska Pawhuska ( osa, 𐓄𐓘𐓢𐓶𐓮𐓤𐓘 / hpahúska, ''meaning: "White Hair"'', iow, Paháhga) is a city in and the county seat of Osage County, Oklahoma, United States. It was named after the 19th-century Osage chief, ''Paw-Hiu-Skah'', wh ...

Osage County, Oklahoma Osage County is the largest county by area in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Created in 1907 when Oklahoma was admitted as a state, the county is named for and is home to the federally recognized Osage Nation. The county is coextensive with the Os ...

. He later attended

Enid High School Enid High School (EHS) is a public tertiary school in Enid, Oklahoma, U.S., operated by the Enid Public Schools school district. With a student body of about 2035 in grades 9-12, Enid High School has a matriculation rate of about 65 percent. Some ...

and went on to play for the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

, where he was "described as a devastating one-on-one blocker." As a 1969 All-American center, he was valued by his college teammates. "He's always got the path cleared for you," said tailback Steve Owens. "He's fantastic coming off the ball on a man right in front of him. I'm glad we have him up there." In fact, "he cleared the way for Owens, who is OU's all-time leading scorer" and 1969

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

winner. Drafted in the fifth-round of the

1970 NFL Draft The 1970 National Football League Draft was the 35th National Football League Draft and the first of the league's modern era, following the merger of the National Football League with the American Football League. It was held on January 27–28, 1 ...

by the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

, Mendenhall was traded several times (including the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

) before landing with the Baltimore Colts where he played out his 10-season career. After the Colts' 1980 season, he retired from professional football with the distinction of having "started 118 consecutive games for the Colts, beginning in the fourth game of 1973 and continuing through the last game of 1980."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendenhall, Ken 1948 births Living people People from Pawhuska, Oklahoma People from Stillwater, Oklahoma Sportspeople from Enid, Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma American football centers Enid High School alumni Oklahoma Sooners football players Baltimore Colts players Ed Block Courage Award recipients