Dexter Keith Manley (born February 2, 1959) is an American former 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 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 formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

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), primarily 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

. He also played for the Phoenix Cardinals and

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

, as well as in the

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) for the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded on September 19, 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup cham ...

. Manley 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 Oklahoma State Cowboys and was selected by the Redskins in the fifth round of the 1981 NFL draft.

Professional football career

National Football League

Manley was drafted in the fifth round (119th overall) of the 1981 NFL draft by the Washington Redskins, where he played for nine seasons. During his career with the Redskins, Manley won two

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

titles and was a Pro Bowler in 1986 when he recorded a Redskins single-season record of 18.5 sacks. In

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, Manley failed his third drug test, with an opportunity to apply for reinstatement after one year. He then played for the Phoenix Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, after he failed his fourth drug test, he retired on December 12, 1991. He had a series of arrests related to his drug problem and was ultimately convicted and served two years in prison. Officially, Manley had 97.5 quarterback sacks in his career. His total rises to 103.5 when the six sacks he had his rookie year of 1981, when sacks were not yet an official statistic, are included. After his career in the United States ended, he revealed that he was functionally illiterate, despite having studied at Oklahoma State University for four years.

Canadian Football League

Manley also played two seasons in the CFL with the

(1992 and 1993).

Personal life

He was nicknamed the "Secretary of Defense" during his time with the Redskins. He resides in suburban Washington with his family. Manley underwent brain surgery in June 2006 to treat a

colloid cyst A colloid cyst is a non-malignant tumor in the brain. It consists of a gelatinous material contained within a membrane of epithelial tissue. It is almost always found just posterior to the foramen of Monro in the anterior aspect of the third v ...

. He first learned about the cyst in 1986 after he collapsed in a Georgetown, Washington, D.C. department store. His prognosis was for a relatively full recovery, although doctors have said that memory loss is a common side effect of the operation. In May 2020, it was announced that Manley had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. In "The Shame of College Sports", a 2011 article in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'' by Taylor Branch (prior to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Education, Arts, and Humanities in 1989), Manley was famously quoted as saying that he had been functionally illiterate in college.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Manley, Dexter 1959 births Living people American football defensive ends Canadian football defensive linemen National Conference Pro Bowl players Oklahoma State Cowboys football players Ottawa Rough Riders players Shreveport Pirates players Phoenix Cardinals players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Washington Redskins players Players of American football from Houston Players of Canadian football from Houston American sportspeople convicted of crimes 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen