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Seahawks Remember Hall of Fame Safety Kenny Easley

Kenny Easley, one of the greatest players in Seahawks history, died Friday at the age of 66.

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Kenny Easley, a Seahawks Legend who was one of the greatest safeties in NFL history, passed away Friday at the age of 66.

An intimidating presence on the field during his Seahawks career, Easley earned the nickname The Enforcer as he patrolled Seattle's secondary in the 1980s, but off the field, he was a man of faith and a dedicated family man.

After a long wait, Easley was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017, 30 years after his career was cut short due to kidney disease, and he began his speech in Canton, Ohio by sharing a bible verse, shared with him by his pastor in Chesapeake, Virginia, Tyrone Armstrong.

"Be anxious for nothing," the verse begins.

Those words helped Easley bounce back from triple bypass surgery a year before that overdue call from the Hall of Fame, and they helped him find peace with himself, as well as with the game of football and with the Seahawks after a long time away from both.

"That always resonated in my soul, that if I was patient and it was God's will, then it would happen," Easley said in the summer of 2017 prior to his enshrinement in Canton.

It eventually did happen for Easley, who belatedly received the recognition he deserved as one of the greatest players of his era, first by going into the Seahawks Ring of Honor in 2002, then by being enshrined in the Hall of Fame and having his No. 45 retired by the Seahawks in 2017.

Kenny Easley Statement - 16x9

A first-round pick out of UCLA in 1981, Easley quickly established himself as a dominant force in Seattle's secondary, and he helped the Seahawks reach new heights, reaching the postseason for the first time in 1983, then following that up with a 12-4 1984 campaign that saw the Seahawks force 63 turnovers, a post-merger NFL record.

In that memorable 1984 season, Easley led the league with 10 interceptions, two of which he returned for touchdowns, and became the first player in franchise history to win Defensive Player of the Year honors. Easley was a three-time first-team All-Pro and five-time Pro-Bowler in seven seasons, earning him a spot on the 1980s All-Decade Team, but his career came to a premature end thanks to kidney disease. For the next 15 years, Easley stayed away from football and from the Seahawks, feeling wronged by the franchise for how his career ended. There was a lawsuit involving his kidney disease that was eventually settled in the 1990s, and for 15 years, Easley was, as he put, "wallowing in my own anger."

But then his wife, Gail, asked him a simple question, which Easley relayed in 2017: "How long can you hold a grudge? They've got a different owner, different doctors and trainers. All those people you believe injured you, they're gone."

In 2002, Gary Wright, then the team's VP of communications, reached out to Easley seeing if he would be willing to come to Seattle to be enshrined in the team's Ring of Honor.

"It was good that the reconciliation happened," Easley said in 2017. "To be honest, I never gave it much thought, because I was wallowing in my own anger. I thought I was done unfairly, it didn't have to happen what happened to me, and it took me a while to get over that. For 15 years, I didn't watch a football game. I never saw Cortez Kennedy play a single game, because from 1987 to 2002, the night that I went into the Ring of Honor, I had not seen an NFL football game in that entire time. In fact, any kind of football, because I had to divorce myself from it completely."

Finally recognized by Seahawks, Easley still had to wait another 15 years to get the call from the Hall of Fame. Among the many who pushed hard for his candidacy over the years was fellow 1981 first-round pick and safety Ronnie Lott, widely considered one of the best safeties of all time. Those two built a friendship based on competition as Lott, at USC, and Easley, at UCLA, pushed to one-up each other. That continued in the NFL, then after their playing days, Lott became one of Easley's biggest advocates.

"I can tell you many moments of watching Kenny Easley, because that's what I used to spend my time doing, watching Kenny Easley," Lott said in a video congratulating Easley on his enshrinement. "The reason why? There was no one that got me excited about playing the game of football than when I watched him… There's no one more deserving."

Finding peace with football and with the Seahawks, and receiving his deserved accolades, was healing for Easley, helping bring peace to him and his family. Easley's son, Kendrick, one of Kenny and Gail's three children along with daughters Gabrielle and Giordanna, described the change he saw in his father after he reconnected with the Seahawks.

"I was at a loss for words," Kendrick said. "I was in shock to see the impact he left on the Seahawks and in the NFL. It definitely changed my perspective on what he did in the NFL, everything he accomplished. I had no idea. When I was living in Seattle, I knew he was a football player, but I didn't know how good he was until we moved away and I did some research. I also didn't know his relationship with the Seahawks was strained at that point. I'm happy to see that get repaired and see where he's at now.

"I'm very proud of him, very happy for him, because I know his journey, what he's been through. It was great for him, great for his spirit and his morale."

A family man, a man of faith and an all-time great player, Easley will be missed by all that knew him and by Seahawks fans who filled the Kingdome cheering for No. 45.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and watch what God can do for you," Easley said in his Hall of Fame speech. "Listen, He may not come when you want Him, but He's an on-time God. Thus, I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. You see, this joy I have tonight, the world didn't give it to me, and the world sure can't take it away.

"This Hall of Fame induction is like fire that's been welled up in my bones, and I can hear the choir singing on this momentous occasion. I get joy when I think about what He's done for me."

On April 28, 1981, the Seahawks selected safety Kenny Easley out of UCLA with the fourth overall selection in the NFL Draft. Easley would go on to rack up 32 interceptions over seven seasons before being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

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