Larry Kirksey was inducted into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame

Larry Kirksey was inducted into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame

LEXINGTON, Ky. Former Eastern Kentucky University wide receiver and longtime pro and college football coach Larry Kirkseybe became EKU’s 10th inductee into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame.

LEXINGTON, Ky. Former Eastern Kentucky University wide receiver and longtime pro and college football coach Larry Kirkseybe became EKU’s 10th inductee into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Kirksey joined former EKU coach and athletics director Glenn Presnell (2020) and former players Wally Chambers (2006), Jason Dunn (2006), John Jackson (2009), Yeremiah Bell (2010), Bratz Chadke (2013), Aaron Jones (2015 ). Myron Guyton (2016) and Tim Lester (2018).

Kirksey was a four-year letterman and three-year starter on coach Roy Kidd’s Colonel football team from 1969-72. He caught 32 passes for 502 yards as a senior, earning all-conference honors.

After graduating from EKU in 1974, he began his coaching career as an assistant coach at the University of Miami for three seasons. From 1977-81, he coached wide receivers and tight ends at Kentucky, a position he held the following year at Kansas. In 1983, he was the head coach at Kentucky State University before returning to the Southeastern Conference at Florida from 1984-88 as the running backs coach. Other collegiate coaching stints included Pittsburgh (1989), Alabama (1990-93), Texas A&M (2000) and Middle Tennessee (2006).

In 1994, he began his NFL career as the wide receivers coach for the San Francisco 49ers, coaching the NFL’s all-time receiving and receiving yardage leader, Jerry Rice. Under his guidance, Rice posted an NFL-record 1,848 yards and a career-high 122 receptions in 1995. San Francisco’s receivers set a Super Bowl record in Super Bowl XXIX with six touchdown catches, three of which were scored by Rice. Kirksey coached in the NFL for 17 seasons, making stops with the 49ers, Lions, Jaguars, Broncos and Texans. In seven seasons with Houston, he helped Andre Johnson pass for an NFL-best 93.6 yards per game, lead the league in receiving yards in 2008 and 2009, and lead the NFL in receptions in 2008.

He was away from coaching in 2005 when he served as the assistant director of the Kentucky Sports Authority before returning to coaching in 2006 as the associate head coach at Middle Tennessee, helping them to the Sun Belt Conference crown.

Kirksey returned to coaching in 2020, serving as the head coach of the Seattle Dragons of the XFL for one season and the Sea Lions of The Spring League in 2021. In 2022, Kirksey helped lead the Birmingham Stallions to the USFL Championship as running backs coach. .