Chidi Obioma Ahanotu (born October 11, 1970) 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 ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

in the NFL. He was originally selected with the fifth pick of the sixth round of the

1993 NFL Draft The 1993 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 April 25–26, 1993, at the Marriot Ma ...

by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

out of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

; he spent the first 8 years of his career with the Buccaneers. He then played for one year at the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

, Buffalo Bills,

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

, and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

before returning to the Bucs for one final year.

Early life

Ahanotu was born in Modesto, California to

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

n father and a mother from Alaska. Ahanotu grew up in Berkeley, California, the middle son of three boys. His father was on the Nigerian national team and taught him and his 2 brothers how to play soccer when they were 5 years old. He also loved to cook.

College career

Ahanotu attended Berkeley High School where he lettered in football and rugby. He was accepted into Columbia University, Hampton University, UCLA, and The University of California, Berkeley (Cal). Ahanotu decided to attend Cal and try his hand at walking on to the team. After his redshirt freshman year Chidi began to play during his 2nd season. After this season Ahanotu earned a full athletic scholarship and became the starting left defensive end for the Golden Bears. Chidi went on to be the starter for 3 more football seasons and earned 1st team All-Pac-10 honors as the best at his position. Ahanotu majored in Integrative Biology and intended to go to medical school to become a doctor before joining the NFL.

Professional career

He was originally selected with the fifth pick of the sixth round of the

by the

out of

; he spent the first 8 years of his career with the Buccaneers. He then played for one year at the

, Buffalo Bills,

, and

before returning to the Bucs for one final year. He was named the Tampa Bay Buccaneers "Franchise Player" in 1999. He is currently ranked 5th all-time in quarterback sacks in Buccaneers franchise history with 34.5 Sacks. He recorded 46.5 total sacks in his 12-year NFL career.NFL.com - Official Site of the National Football League
Ahanotu was also named to the Top 100 All Time Buccaneers List coming in ranked #46th on this list.
Of all the Left Defensive Ends to ever play for the Buccaneers, Ahanotu is ranked the best ever for the Buccaneers according to the Top 100 All Time Buccaneers List. Of all the defensive linemen to ever play for the Buccaneers, Ahanotu is ranked 6th best-ever according to the Top 100 All Time Buccaneers List, behind

Lee Roy Selmon Lee Roy Selmon (October 20, 1954 – September 4, 2011) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football as a defensive tackle ...

Warren Sapp Warren Carlos Sapp (born December 19, 1972) is an American former football defensive tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sapp played college football at Miami, where h ...

, Simeon Rice, Dave Logan and Dave Pear.

Post-playing career

Ahanotu retired from the NFL in 2005. After retiring, he became the founder of Magellan Entertainment Inc., a full service Talent Management Firm. One the firm's biggest clients is World Champion sprinter

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

. Magellan Entertainment co-manages Bolt with its partner Gina Ford of G2 Marketing. The firm also touts as one of its clients three-time light heavyweight boxing champion

Antonio Tarver Antonio Deon Tarver (born November 21, 1968) is an American former professional boxer and boxing commentator. In boxing he competed from 1997 to 2015, and held multiple light heavyweight world championships, including the WBA (Unified), WBC, IB ...

. As president and founder of Magellan Entertainment Ahanotu has grown the firm's clients list to include musicians, producers, actors, models, digital media companies and professional athletes.

References

External links

*
Magellan Entertainment official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahanotu, Chidi 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Modesto, California American sportspeople of Nigerian descent American football defensive ends American football defensive tackles Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) alumni California Golden Bears football players Players of American football from California Tampa Bay Buccaneers players St. Louis Rams players Buffalo Bills players San Francisco 49ers players Miami Dolphins players