Mark Kevin Kafentzis (born June 30, 1958) 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 ...

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 ...

who played three seasons 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) with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

and Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts. He was selected by the Browns in the eighth round of the

1982 NFL draft The 1982 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 27–28, 1982, at the New York Sh ...

. 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 ...

Columbia Basin College Columbia Basin College (CBC) is a public community college in Pasco, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. The college offers English as a second language and General Educational Development (GED) ...

and the

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system and houses the main offic ...

Early life

Kafentzis participated in

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

, wrestling and track for the

Columbia High School Columbia High School may refer to: *Columbia High School (Huntsville, Alabama) *Columbia High School (Georgia) *Columbia High School (Florida) *Columbia High School (Idaho) *Columbia High School (Illinois) *Columbia High School (Mississippi), a Mis ...

Bombers of

Richland, Washington Richland () is a city in Benton County, Washington, United States. It is located in southeastern Washington at the confluence of the Yakima River, Yakima and the Columbia River, Columbia Rivers. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was ...

. He earned All Big-Nine Conference and All-Area honors on offense and defense his senior year.

College career

Kafentzis first played

for the

Hawks. He garnered All-Conference defensive back and All-American recognition as a kick return specialist. The Hawks won the National Junior College Football Championship in 1978. He was inducted into the Columbia Basin College Athletics Wall of Fame in 2012. Kafentzis transferred to play for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors from 1980 to 1981. He was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 1979. He was named to the "All-Rainbow Team" of the 1980s. Kafentzis was named the 58th best player in the school's history by the

Honolulu Star-Bulletin The ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' was a daily newspaper based in Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the second largest daily newspaper in the state of Hawaii (after the ''Honol ...

in 2009.

Professional career

Kafentzis was selected by the

with the 199th pick in the

and played in nine games for the team during the 1982 season. He played in 31 games, starting fifteen, for the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts from 1983 to 1984. He was released by the Colts on August 20, 1985.

Personal life

Kafentzis is the oldest of five brothers who played for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. His brothers Kurt, Kent and Kyle all signed with NFL teams. Mark was inducted into the Central Washington Sports Hall of Fame in 2004, the

Northwest Athletic Conference The Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC), formerly the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC), is a sports association for community colleges in the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, and along with the Canadian province ...

Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Tri-Cities Sports Council Hall of Fame in 2003.

References

External links

College stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kafentzis, Mark Living people 1958 births American football defensive backs Columbia Basin Hawks football players Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football players Cleveland Browns players Baltimore Colts players Indianapolis Colts players Players of American football from Washington (state) Sportspeople from Richland, Washington