William Abraham Hardee Jr (August 12, 1954, – July 4, 2011) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL),

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL) and

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL) during the 1970s and 1980s. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Virginia Tech Hokies The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams representing Virginia Tech in intercollegiate athletics. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 22 varsity sports. Virginia Tech's men's sports are football, b ...

College career

Hardee played at

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

from 1972 to 1975. Hardee started his collegiate career as a

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

, transitioning to defensive back in 1974. Hardee finished in the Top 10 nationally in 1975, with seven

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

s. This, along with his work as a

kickoff returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

, earned him Honorable Mention as an AP All American and a spot on the National Independent All-Star Football squad. Hardee was elected into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

Professional career

Following graduation from Virginia Tech, Hardee went on to play in the

, the

and the

. Hardee retired from professional football in 1985.

After retirement

He worked in the administration department at Lake Region High School in

Eagle Lake, Florida Eagle Lake is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Lakeland– Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area. Most of the town being centered around a subsection of U.S. Highway 17. The population was 3,008 as of ...

. He and his wife Deborah had three children. A son, Billy III, followed in his father's footsteps and played football for the Hokies from 1999 to 2001.

Death

Hardee died from injuries sustained from a motorcycle accident near

Phoenix, AZ Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. He was in a coma for two days and died shortly thereafter July 4, 2011.

External links

Virginia Tech Hall of Fame
1954 births 2011 deaths American football cornerbacks Calgary Stampeders players Canadian football defensive backs Denver Broncos players New York Jets players Ottawa Rough Riders players Toronto Argonauts players Virginia Tech Hokies football players Players of Canadian football from Florida Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars players Road incident deaths in Arizona 20th-century American sportsmen {{defensiveback-1950s-stub