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William Patrick Kenney (born January 20, 1955) is an American former
quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
who spent nine years 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 ma ...
with the
Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...
from 1980 to 1988 and a former
politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
who spent 8 years as a Missouri State Senator. Kenney was originally drafted by 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 pl ...
in the 12th round of the
1978 NFL Draft The 1978 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 2–3, 1978, at the Roosevelt Hot ...
.


High school/college

Kenney was born in San Francisco and graduated from San Clemente High School in 1973. He originally received a
scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...
to play at
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in t ...
but did not play his first year. He then transferred to small
Saddleback College Saddleback College (Saddleback) is a public community college in Mission Viejo, California. It is part of the California Community College system and awards over 300 associate degrees, academic certificates, and occupational skills awards in ...
, where he played for one season. He spent the remainder of his college career at the
University of Northern Colorado The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado. The university was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has officially change ...
.


College statistics


NFL

Kenney was drafted by 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 pl ...
. He was cut from the Dolphins at the end of
training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...
, but he had more success two years later, when he made the
Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...
roster as the backup to Steve Fuller. He ended up starting games late in the year because of an injury to Fuller and did exceptionally well. His late season performance helped him to take over the starting job for good in 1981. After an average 1982 season, Kenney was in line to be replaced by
Todd Blackledge Todd Alan Blackledge (born February 25, 1961) is a former American football quarterback in both the NCAA and National Football League. In college, he led the Penn State Nittany Lions to a national championship. A member of the famed Class of 19 ...
, whom the Chiefs drafted as part of the vaunted
Quarterback class of 1983 The 1983 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 26–27, 1983, at the New York S ...
. Kenney responded by having a breakout season, setting team records for passing yards (4,348) and completions (346) in a season; the latter was also good enough to lead the NFL. Kenney earned a
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 ...
berth that season. At one point, he threw for over 300 yards in 4 games in a row, topping out at 417 yards in a loss to Seattle. Unfortunately for Kenney and the Chiefs, they would lose all four games. He did not come close to matching his 4,000-yard output over the next four seasons, but he did enough to prevent Blackledge from starting when he was healthy (in
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast As ...
, he missed 7 weeks due to a thumb injury). He eventually gave up his starting job in 1988 when the Chiefs traded for
Steve DeBerg Steven Leroy DeBerg (born January 19, 1954) is an American retired professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 years. Early life DeBerg is an alumnus of Savanna High School in Anaheim, Cal ...
. Kenney was released after failing to throw a
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 Americ ...
pass in 114 attempts that season. He left the Chiefs as the second most prolific passer in team history behind Hall of Famer
Len Dawson Leonard Ray Dawson (June 20, 1935 – August 24, 2022) was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Kansas City Chiefs franchise. Af ...
. He has been passed in most passing categories since then by
Trent Green Trent Jason Green (born July 9, 1970) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for fifteen seasons. He played college football for Indiana University. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in ...
; Green also broke Kenney's single season record for passing yards in
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
. In 1989, 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) ...
to be the third quarterback behind
Mark Rypien Mark Robert Rypien (born October 2, 1962) is a Canadian-born former American football quarterback who played 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Washington State and was drafted by the Washington Redsk ...
and Doug Williams. He did not appear in any games with the 'Skins, however, and he retired after the season.


Politics

Kenney took up residency in
Lee's Summit, Missouri Lee's Summit is a city located within the counties of Jackson (primarily) and Cass in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As of the 2020 census its population was 101,108, making it the sixth-largest city in bo ...
after his retirement. He turned his attention to
politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...
at this time, and in 1994, he successfully ran as a Republican to represent a portion of
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
and parts of suburban Jackson County in the Missouri State Senate. In 1996, Kenney ran an unsuccessful campaign to become Lieutenant Governor of Missouri. In 2001, Bill Kenney became the majority
floor leader In politics, floor leaders, also known as a caucus leader, are leaders of their respective political party in a body of a legislature. Philippines In the Philippines each body of the bicameral Congress has a majority floor leader and a minor ...
of the Missouri Senate, and held the position for two years. He left the Senate afterwards due to
term limit A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential ...
s, and retired from politics altogether as a result. Kenney was appointed to the
Missouri Public Service Commission The Missouri Public Service Commission regulates investor-owned telephone, electric, natural gas, steam, water, and sewer utilities in the state of Missouri. Manufacturers and retail dealers who sell new and used manufactured homes and modular u ...
by
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Jay Nixon Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon (born February 13, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 55th Governor of Missouri from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the governorship in 2008 and reele ...
on January 9, 2013. On January 24, 2013, he was confirmed by the Missouri Senate to a six-year term.


References


External links


Database Football
- career statistics {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenney, Bill 1955 births Living people People from Lee's Summit, Missouri Players of American football from San Francisco American football quarterbacks Arizona State Sun Devils football players Saddleback Gauchos football players Northern Colorado Bears football players Kansas City Chiefs players American Conference Pro Bowl players Republican Party Missouri state senators American athlete-politicians