Ernest Pastell Givins Jr. (born September 3, 1964), is a former professional

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 ...

player from

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

. He played ten seasons as a wide receiver with 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), mostly with 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 a ...

High school and college

Givins attended Lakewood High School where he was a star football player. He attended

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) is a public community college in Miami, Oklahoma. Established as the Miami School of Mines in 1919, NEO has an enrollment of approximately two thousand students. The Golden Norsemen is the school mascot. ...

, then transferred to the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

. At Louisville he set records for punt return and kickoff return that still stand.

Professional career

He was selected by the Houston Oilers in the 2nd round of the

1986 NFL Draft The 1986 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 29–30, 1986, at the Marriott Marq ...

. A , 175 lbs. wide receiver, he played in 10 NFL seasons from 1986 to 1995. During his rookie season, in a Week 9, 1986 game against the

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 ...

, Givins took a reverse and was injured after getting hit in the head/neck area and was taken off the field on a stretcher. He only missed one game and returned two weeks later in Week 11 against the Steelers. A two-time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

selection in 1990 and 1992, he played most of his career with the Oilers, catching passes from quarterback

Warren Moon Harold Warren Moon (born November 18, 1956) is an American former football quarterback who played professionally for 23 seasons. He spent the majority of his career with the Houston Oilers of the National Football League (NFL) and the Edmonton ...

, along with receivers Curtis Duncan,

Haywood Jeffires Haywood Franklin Jeffires (pronounced "Jeffries"; born December 12, 1964) is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Houston Oilers in the 1st round (20th overall) of the 1987 NFL Draft out of North Carolina State. ...

and Drew Hill in the Oilers' "run and shoot" offense. Givins was best known for his

touchdown celebration In gridiron football, touchdown celebrations are sometimes performed after the scoring of a touchdown. Individual celebrations have become increasingly complex over time, from simple "spiking" of the football in decades past to the elaborately cho ...

dance known as the "Electric Slide." After nine seasons with the Oilers, Givins played one season with the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

, then retired.

Oilers/Titans franchise records

* Most receiving yards (career): 7,935 * Receptions (career): 542

Post-professional career

He is very active in St. Petersburg's football community. In the mid-1990s, he was offensive coordinator of his high school alma mater, Pinellas Lakewood High School.

Coaching career

Givins served as head coach of St. Petersburg semi-pro football team, the St. Pete Sharks (Suncoast Semi-pro Football League). Givins served as head coach of the Sarasota Millionaires (initially in the United Football Federation and as of 2014 in the Florida Football Alliance (FFA), from 2012 to 2014. On May 26, 2017, Givins was named head coach of the Dunedin Pirates (Florida Football Alliance) based in Dunedin, Florida. Givins has been the offensive coordinator for

Boca Ciega High School Boca Ciega High School (BCHS), commonly referred to as Bogie by students, staff, and county residents, is an American four-year public high school in Gulfport, Florida, just south of the St. Petersburg city line, and is part of the Pinellas County ...

's football team. He also works at Bay Point Middle School in St. Petersburg as a campus monitor.

Personal life

Givins' brother,

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

, is the head coach of the St. Petersburg-based University of Faith football team.

References

External links

1964 births Living people American football wide receivers American football tight ends Louisville Cardinals football players Houston Oilers players Jacksonville Jaguars players American Conference Pro Bowl players Players of American football from St. Petersburg, Florida {{ULouisville-stub