Reggie Kinlaw (born January 9, 1957) 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 ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

who 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 rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

and Professionally for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders and

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

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 ...

. He graduated from Miami Springs Senior High School. Drafted in the final round of the

1979 NFL Draft The 1979 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 May 3–4, 1979, at the Waldorf Astoria ...

, Kinlaw soon worked his way into the rotation on the

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. He went on to become a mainstay at the

nose tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

position, starting on Raider

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

winners following the

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

seasons. He was considered an unsung hero on those defenses, which featured stars like

Ted Hendricks Theodore Paul Hendricks (born November 1, 1947), nicknamed "the Mad Stork", is a former professional football player who played as an outside linebacker for 15 seasons with the Baltimore Colts, Green Bay Packers, and the Oakland/Los Angeles ...

Rod Martin Roderick Darryl Martin (born April 7, 1954) is a retired National Football League linebacker who played for the Oakland / Los Angeles Raiders from 1977 to 1988. He is best known for his record three interceptions in Super Bowl XV, which put him ...

Matt Millen Matthew George Millen (born March 12, 1958) is a former American football linebacker and executive. Millen played 12 years in the National Football League for the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, and Washington Redskins, ...

, and, later,

Howie Long Howard Matthew Moses Long (born January 6, 1960) is an American sports analyst and former professional football player. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons as a defensive end, spending his entire career with the Raide ...

Lyle Alzado Lyle Martin Alzado (April 3, 1949 – May 14, 1992) was an American professional All Pro football defensive end of the National Football League (NFL), famous for his intense and intimidating style of play. Alzado played 15 seasons, splitting hi ...

, and

Greg Townsend Gregory Townsend Sr. (born November 3, 1961) is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Raiders in the fourth round of the 1983 NFL Draft. Townsend also played for the Philadelphi ...

. Despite being somewhat undersized at 6-2 and 250 pounds, Kinlaw's quickness demanded double teams, freeing up his teammates to make big plays. "Reggie was the REAL hero of our defense! He was so quick, they always had to double-team him. That would allow us, in the secondary, to make plays." - Lester Hayes, CB, Raiders. Reggie Kinlaw coached the defensive line at the varsity level at St. Francis High School in La Cañada, Flintridge, California. His son Reggie Kinlaw, Jr. also coached the defensive line on the

Junior Varsity Junior varsity (often called "JV") players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition (such as any football, basketball, or baseball game), usually at the high school level–– and formerly at the collegiate level� ...

level at St. Francis High School. With the announcement (in 2015) of the Raiders moving to Las Vegas, Reggie permanently moved to Las Vegas as well.Phone call with Reggie Kinlaw.

References

1957 births Living people American football defensive tackles Los Angeles Raiders players Oakland Raiders players Oklahoma Sooners football players Seattle Seahawks players High school football coaches in California Miami Springs Senior High School alumni Players of American football from Miami Coaches of American football from Florida {{collegefootball-player-stub