Kevin Tyree Dyson (born June 23, 1975) 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 wi ...

wide receiver of 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 majo ...

. He was drafted by the Tennessee Oilers 16th overall in the 1998 NFL Draft. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. Dyson is best known for his part in two historic NFL plays – the Music City Miracle and

The Tackle Super Bowl XXXIV was an American football game played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on January 30, 2000, to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1999 NFL season, 1999 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champ ...

. Kevin Dyson and his brother

Andre Dyson Andre Dyson (born May 25, 1979) is a former American football cornerback. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at Utah. Early years Andre Dyson was born on May 25, 1979, in L ...

were the first brothers in NFL history to score touchdowns in the same game. After his football career ended, Dyson earned two master's degrees and a doctorate, and became the principal of a middle school, then a high school.

Early life and college

Born in

Logan, Utah Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population was 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Cache County and Franklin ...

, Dyson graduated in 1993 from

Clearfield High School Clearfield High School is a secondary school in Clearfield, Utah, United States. It is part of the Davis School District. The school's mascot is the peregrine falcon, and its colors are green and white with an accent of gold. In 1960-61 students ...

in Clearfield, Utah. In the fall of his senior year, he helped his team win the 1992 State 4A championship. At the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

, Dyson played on the Utah Utes football team for five seasons (1993–1997) and graduated in 1997 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

. In his four seasons as a starter, Dyson caught 192 passes for 2,726 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Professional football career

Dyson played for the Tennessee Titans from 1998 to

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, wearing #87. In the 1999 playoffs, he was involved in two of the most memorable plays in NFL history. Dyson was the recipient of Frank Wycheck's lateral known by many as the Music City Miracle, and he was tackled by Mike Jones "one yard short" of scoring the probable game-tying

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

as time expired in Super Bowl XXXIV, in a play known as

. Dyson played for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

but saw very little action due to injury. He did appear briefly in

Super Bowl XXXVIII Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Carolina Panthers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) ch ...

. The San Diego Chargers acquired Dyson for the 2004 season, but later released him. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

he signed with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

but was cut on September 3 when teams reduced their rosters to the final 53 players. He finished his 6 NFL seasons with 178 receptions for 2,325 yards and 18 touchdowns in 59 regular-season games.

Coaching and education career

After retiring from football, Dyson went on to earn a Master of Education degree from Trevecca Nazarene University in 2007, and followed that up with a doctorate from the same school. Dyson was a counselor and wide receiver coach at Glencliff Comprehensive High School in Nashville from 2007 to 2009. Since 2008, Dyson has been on the board of the organization Students Taking A Right Stand. He later left to serve as the receivers and backs coach for Independence High School at Thompson's Station, Tennessee as well as the athletic director, eventually ascending to head coach in 2010. Dyson served as an assistant principal at Independence High School and as the principal of Grassland Middle School in Franklin, Tennessee. On April 22, 2021, he was named principal at Centennial High School in Franklin.

Personal life

Dyson is the older brother of NFL

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

and former Titans teammate

. He lived in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

and

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

during his football career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyson, Kevin 1975 births Living people American football wide receivers Carolina Panthers players Utah Utes football players Tennessee Oilers players Tennessee Titans players Trevecca Nazarene University alumni People from Davis County, Utah Sportspeople from Logan, Utah Sportspeople from Salt Lake City Players of American football from Salt Lake City High school football coaches in Tennessee African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople Ed Block Courage Award recipients